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THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 


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THE 

VISION  WE  FORGET 


A  Layman's  Reading  of  the  Book  of 

the  Revelation  of  St.  John  the  Divine  ^.^^^  r.r  ni*...-^ 

JUN  151921 
PHILIP  WHITWELL  WILSON 

Author  of  "The  Christ  We  Forget ^ 
*'The  Church  We  Forget,''  etc. 


New  York  Chicago 

Fleming    H.    Re  veil    Company 

London       and      Edinburgh 


Copyright,  192 1,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


JVintedin  the  United  States  of  Ameriea 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Qiicago.:  17  North  Wabash  Ave. 
London :  2 1  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:      75    Princes    Street 


To  my  daughter 

THEODORA 

from  whose  picture  Bible 
I  wrote  this  book 


He  who  prepares  for  the  next  war  is  preparing 
the  sheet  of  paper  on  which  a  new  St.  John 
will   write   the  Apocalypse  of  our  civilization, 

— Maximilian  Harden,  New  York  World. 

29th  December,  1920. 


Contents 


A  Word  to  Explain 

I.  The  Challenge 

II.  The  Cathedral  and  Seven  Chapels 

III.  For  Those  in  Peril 

IV.  The  Lamps  that  Shine  . 

V.  Sunrise  Over  Patmos     . 

VI.  The  Glory  of  the  Lamb 

VII.  The  Four  Horses  of  the  Apocalypse 

VIII.  The  Republic  of  Peace 

IX.  The  Trumpets  Sound 

X.  First  Rumbles  of  Artillery 

XI.  The  Fierce  Birds  of  Prey 

XII.  By  the  River  Euphrates 

XIII.  The  Angel  and  the  Book 

XIV.  The  Two  Olive  Trees  . 

XV.  The  Revival  of  the  Churches 

XVI.  Everywoman  .... 

XVII.  The  Beasts  Arise  . 

XVIII.  The  Arithmetic  of  It   . 

XIX.  The  Lamb  on  the  Mount 

XX.  The  Three  Angels 

XXI.  The  Souls  of  the  Dead 

XXII.  The  Seven  Vials  . 

1 


8 

CONTENTS 

XXIIl. 

The  Ruin  of  Babylon  . 

, 

.    207 

XXIV. 

The  Christ  on  Crusade 

, 

.     217 

XXV. 

The  Millennium  and  the  Throne 

.     223 

XXVI. 

The  Turn  of  the  Road 

.     233 

XXVIL 

The  New  Jerusalem   . 

.     245 

XXVIII. 

How  Christ  Would  Govern 

.     255 

XXIX. 

John  of  Patmos  Awakes     . 

.     271 

Index  

.     281 

A  Word  to  Explain 


WHEN  I  wrote  The  Christ  We  Forget  and  The 
Church  We  P  or  get,  I  had  only  the  usual  distant 
acquaintance  with  The  Vision  We  Forget,  I  was  fa- 
miliar with  certain  favourite  passages  in  the  Book  of 
Revelation,  but  that  was  all.  It  was  with  a  certain  zest, 
therefore,  that  I  began  to  read  this  book  as  a  whole, 
with  my  own  eyes  and  nobody  else's,  and  I  soon  found 
that  I  was  in  touch  with  a  supreme  product,  whatever 
more  it  may  be,  of  the  human  mind.  There  are  doubt- 
less innumerable  treatises  on  the  Apocalypse  which  I 
ought  to  have  studied,  and  I  did  try  one  or  two,  but  I 
found  them  less  interesting  than  the  Book  itself  and 
sometimes  more  perplexing.  On  prophetic  systems, 
any  opinion  from  me  would  be  valueless,  but  in  John 
of  Patmos  I  greet  one  who  seems  to  have  compre- 
hended this  world  in  which  somehow  I  have  to  live. 
As  a  father  to  a  child,  he  tells  me  how  the  Christ  he 
remembered  looks  at  things  here  and  now — what  part 
the  Christ  plays  in  our  drama — what  greater  part  He 
will  play  when  the  time  comes.  I  have  no  idea  how 
John  came  to  put  on  paper  much  that  I  have  read.  All 
I  know  is  that  John's  words  are  there.  And  the  words 
fit  facts. 

Curiously,  my  young  people  have  been  more  inter- 
ested in  this  book.  The  Vision  We  Forget,  than  in 
either  of  the  two  that  went  before  it.  They  like  weav- 
ing interpretations  around  symbols.    "  I  wonder,"  said 

9 


10  A  WORD  TO  EXPLAIN 

one  of  them,  in  mischief,  *'  how  you  would  have  man- 
aged if  John  had  made  the  number  of  the  beast  eight 
hundred  and  eighty  and  eight  instead  of  six  hundred 
and  sixty  and  six !  " — which  shows  that  our  theology 
was  compatible  with  pleasant  conversation.  If  it  had 
been  eight  instead  of  six,  I  should  have  been  hard  put 
to  it  for  a  meaning,  because  six  is  accurately  right  and 
therefore  obvious — it  interprets  itself;  as  does  this 
whole  Book ;  so  that  I  have  merely  recorded  the  inter- 
pretation. Some  people  see  in  the  Vision  the  God  that 
was, — the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire ;  others  see  in  it 
the  God  that  ever  will  be — the  return  of  Our  Lord  to 
reign;  they  must  bear  with  me  if — while  respecting 
History  and  Prophecy — I  write  mainly  of  the  Present, 
the  God  that  is.  To  deal  with  prophetic  cycles  and 
ancient  research,  the  Almighty  has  chosen  suitable 
scholars,  but  I  am  a  layman  and  a  journalist  and  my 
allotted  part  is  to  find  the  Apocalypse  in  every  morn- 
ing's newspaper. 

This,  indeed,  is  what  first  startled  and  then  amazed 
me.  What  would  you  say  yourself  if  you  were  handed 
one  day  a  document,  undoubtedly  written  about  two 
thousand  years  ago,  in  which  you  were  not  expecting 
to  discover  anything  about  the  happenings  of  last  week, 
and  on  reading  it,  as  you  would  read  for  instance 
Homer,  were  suddenly  to  find  in  it  curious  yet  exact 
descriptions  of  modern  war,  of  recent  revolutions,  of 
the  electric  telegraph,  of  the  women's  movement,  of 
the  popular  press,  of  the  distributed  Bible,  pocket  size, 
of  Capital  and  Labour,  of  Catholics  and  Protestants, 
of  scientific  research,  of  the  art  of  healing,  of  interna- 
tional peace, — in  fact,  of  all  that  is  characteristic, 
whether  good  or  ill,  in  the  Twentieth  Century  ?  Sup- 
pose that  you  also  found  aeroplanes  described,  with  a 


A  WORD  TO  EXPLAIN  11 

quite  irresistible  and  hitherto  incomprehensible  ac- 
curacy, so  that  until  aeroplanes  were  invented,  nobody 
could  imagine  what  the  passage  meant,  while  after 
they  were  invented,  nobody  could  doubt  that  only  aero- 
planes were  referred  to — what  then  would  you  say? 
If  you  are  a  scientist,  claiming  to  face  phenomena 
fairly  and  squarely,  why  do  you  turn  shy  at  this  phe- 
nomenon? Do  you  think  that  the  phenomenon  will 
disappear,  merely  because  you  are  trying  to  ignore  it? 
It  is  only  the  fool  who  says  in  his  heart  that  there 
is  no  God. 

And  I  cannot  believe  that  I  am  doing  wrong  when 
I  read  the  Book  of  Revelation,  even  though  there  may 
be  so  many  others  more  competent  than  I  am  to  talk 
about  it.  I  enjoy  the  Book — cannot  help  enjoying  it — 
and  it  is  enjoyment  to  discuss  it.  For,  after  all,  John 
of  Patmos  had  no  dream  or  imagining  that  did  not 
centre  around  the  Person  of  the  Redeemer.  You  can- 
not walk  with  John  without  also  walking  with  Jesus 
of  Nazareth.  And,  for  this  reason,  I  have  inserted  at 
the  beginning  of  these  pages,  two  tributes  to  the  Son 
of  Man,  one  written  in  1881  and  the  other  printed 
here,  exactly  forty  years  later.  The  first  was  my 
father's  farewell  letter  to  his  workpeople,  dictated  just 
before  he  died.  The  second  tribute  is  a  poem,  written 
at  Easter,  by  a  school  friend  of  my  daughter,  at  St. 
Agatha's,  New  York,  three  thousand  miles  from 
Underfell,  in  Kendal,  where  my  father  ended  his  days. 
Equally  to  these  two — a  sick  man  facing  death  and  a 
brilliant  young  girl  facing  life — does  the  Christ  of 
Patmos  appeal ;  He  is  with  us  as  centuries  end  and  still 
with  us  as  centuries  begin;  oceans  and  years  do  not 
divide  us  from  Him,  and  "  Revelation,"  is  only  seeing 
Him  nearer  Whom  always  we  see. 


12  A  WOKD  TO  EXPLAm 

Written  on  the  Threshold 

Underfell,  February  i6th,  i88i.^ 
Dear  Friends  : 

I  have  known  many  of  you  from  thirty  to  forty 
years,  and  there  are  many  who  have  come  more  recently, 
for  whom  I  feel  a  true  and  warm  friendship. 

It  has  been  a  great  sorrow  to  me  to  part  from  you  all, 
and  I  should  like  to  have  taken  a  last  leave,  but  it  was 
utterly  impossible.  For  some  time  hopes  of  recovery 
were  held  out,  but  since  then  my  strength  has  failed  so 
rapidly  that  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  undertake  it. 

Still,  I  cannot  help  wishing  in  some  feeble  way  to  ex- 
press my  best  wishes  for  the  welfare  of  each  one  of  you 
from  the  oldest  to  the  youngest.  The  experience  of  a 
life  of  nearly  fifty  years  has  taught  me  that  this  can  only 
be  attained  by  seeking  to  walk  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  by 
trusting  for  salvation  to  the  death  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  on  the  cross  for  us.  In  looking  back  upon  my 
past  life,  it  is  only  in  this  way  that  I  can  hopefully  look 
forward  to  the  future  to  which  I  am  hastening. 

I  have  rejoiced  in  the  cordiality  and  good  feeling  which 
has  existed  amongst  us, — the  expression  of  which,  from 
you,  has  been  a  great  cheer  to  me  during  the  last  few 
months  of  pain  and  trial. 

I  may  say,  in  these  days,  when  changes  of  religious 
opinion  are  so  current,  that  I  have  found  in  the  time  of 
trouble  nothing  to  rest  upon  but  the  love  of  God  as  shown 
to  us  in  Christ. 

I.  Whitwell  Wilson. 

"  These  are  old  wounds"  He  said, 
" But  of  late  they  have  tr'ouhled  me" 
******* 

Dear  Lord,  I  know 
The  world's  dark  deeds 


A  WOED  TO  EXPLAIN  13 

And  mad  ungovern'd  passions 

Cause  Thee  pain. 

I  see 

Thy  lovely  careworn  face  o'ershadow'd 

By  a  look  of  sorrow- 
When  an  unkind  act  is  done. 

I  watch 

Thy  deeply  pierced  fever'd  hands 

Stretch  forth  to  beg  compassion 

For  an  evil  sin-dyed  wanderer 

Whose  falseness  hurt  Thee  sore. 
Many,  many  are  Thy  burdens, 
Comrade  clothed  in  white. 
For  the  works  of  evil 
Wrought  by  our  unheeding  fingers 
Rest  in  crushing  weight 
Upon  Thy  spirit.     Weary, 
Tired — eyes,  dark-dimmed  with  grief — 
Art  Thou  now, — bearing 
Wrongs  done  by  Thy  children. 

A  prayer  comes  softly  to  my  heart 

As  I  see  Thy  low-bow'd  head : 

—Not  to  be 

Patient,  perfect  and  pure 

As  Thou; — for  that  were  vain — 

But  only  that  I,  one  of  the  least. 

May  be  not  too  great  a  care  on  Thee  ; 

That  in  my  blundering  search 

For  light,  I  may  not  cause 

Thee  too  deep  pain;  and  that 

Perhaps  by  some  small  act  unplann'd, 
I  might  bring  Thee  unexpected  joy ; 
And  so,  for  a  fleeting  instant. 
Coolly  soothe  Thy  troubled  wounds. 

Winifred  Scott  Walz. 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  CHALLENGE 


You  will  notice  that,  in  advance  of  each 
chapter,  there  is  inserted  the  passage  from 
John's  Vision  which  is  to  be  interpreted. 
So  familiar  are  the  Letters  to  the  Churches 
that  they  are  omitted  and  you  are  here  asked 
to  consult  your  Bible.  In  the  main,  it  may 
be  said  that  every  phrase  and  symbol  of  the 
Apocalypse  has  yielded  a  clear  and  con- 
structive meaning  for  readers  of  a  modern 
newspaper. 


THE  Revelation  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  God  gave  unto 
him,  to  shew  unto  his  servants  things  which  must 
shortly  come  to  pass ;  and  he  sent  and  signified  it  by 
his  angel  unto  his  servant  John : 

Who  bare  record  of  the  word  of  God,  and  of  the 
testimony  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  all  things  that  he  saw. 

Blessed  is  he  that  readeth,  and  they  that  hear  the  words 
of  this  prophecy,  and  keep  those  things  which  are  written 
therein :  for  the  time  is  at  hand. 

******* 

For  I  testify  unto  every  man  that  heareth  the  words  of 
the  prophecy  of  this  book.  If  any  man  shall  add  unto  these 
things,  God  shall  add  unto  him  the  plagues  that  are  written 
in  this  book : 

And  if  any  man  shall  take  away  from  the  words  of  the 
book  of  this  prophecy,  God  shall  take  away  his  part  out  of 
the  book  of  life,  and  out  of  the  holy  city,  and  from  the 
things  which  are  written  in  this  book. 

He  which  testifieth  these  things  saith,  Surely  I  come 
quickly    Amen.    Even  so,  come,  Lord  Jesus. 

The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you  all. 
Amen. 

******* 

I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  ending, 
saith  the  Lord,  which  is,  and  which  was,  and  which  is  to 
come,  the  Almighty. 

I  John,  who  also  am  your  brother,  and  companion  in  trib- 
ulation, and  in  the  kingdom  and  patience  of  Jesus  Christ, 
was  in  the  isle  that  is  called  Patmos,  for  the  word  of  God, 
and  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ. 

I  was  in  the  Spirit  on  the  Lord's  daj',  and  heard  behind 
me  a  great  voice,  as  of  a  trumpet. 

Saying,  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  first  and  the  last: 
and,  Wihat  thou  seest,  write  in  a  book,  and  send  it  unto  the 
seven  churches  which  are  in  Asia ;  unto  Ephesus,  and  unto 
Smyrna,  and  unto  Pergamos,  and  unto  Thyatira,  and  unto 
Sardis,  and  unto  Philadelphia,  and  unto  Laodicea. 

— Revei^atign  1:1-3;  22 :  18-21 ;  i :  8-11. 


THE  CHALLENGE 

AS  I  begin  this  book,  there  lies  in  front  of  me  a 
cutting  from  an  EngHsh  newspaper.  A  delight- 
ful author,  in  jocular  mood,  says  that  he  has  never  read 
the  Revelation  of  St.  John  the  Divine  and  has  no  in- 
tention of  so  doing.  He  jests  gaily  about  the  end  of 
the  world  and  pokes  fun  at  the  Prophet  Daniel.  I  pro- 
pose to  take  up  his  challenge  and  tell  him  what  a  fel- 
low-journalist has  found  in  the  Visions  which  he  ig- 
nores. The  attitude  of  my  friend  is  typical  of  a  prev- 
alent neglect  of  these  and  other  "  Scriptures  "  not  in 
the  world  only  but  also  in  the  Church.  Years  ago, 
Dean  Alford  complained  that  the  Apocalypse  is  scarcely 
heard  by  Episcopalians  at  their  services  and  here  the 
Episcopalians  do  not  stand  alone.  Experienced  ad- 
visers warn  me  that  I  must  not  expect  any  great  inter- 
est to  be  taken  in  this,  my  third  little  volume  on  "  the 
Bible  we  forget."  People  with  definite  views  will  dis- 
like these  pages  unless  I  give  them  definite  dates.  And 
other  people  are  so  afraid  of  prophetic  dynamite  that 
they  leave  the  Vision  severely  alone.  As  my  friend 
observes,  a  library  of  comment,  criticism,  controversy, 
and  elucidation  has  been  devoted  to  the  Vision,  and 
has  it  been  worth  while  ?  That  is  the  challenge  which 
I  have  to  meet. 

A  wise  man  has  said,  Where  there  is  no  vision, 
the  people  perish.    And  it  is  true.    If  to-day  there  is  a 

17 


18  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

greater  volume  of  misery  in  the  world  than  ever  be- 
fore, if  more  children  are  fatherless  and  more  wives 
made  widows,  it  is  because  in  our  civilization  there  was 
no  vision.  The  people  did  not  know  and  there  was  no- 
body to  tell  them  where  they  were  going.  John's  Book 
was  not  written  to  make  folk  miserable.  It  was  in- 
tended to  save  them  from  misery.  He  starts  with  the 
word,  Blessed,  and  this  word  Blessed  simply  means 
happy.  Any  one  who  reads  the  Vision  aloud  to  others 
will  discover  the  path  to  happiness.  Any  one  who  sits 
quiet  while  the  Book  is  read  will  also  learn  how  to  be 
happy.  And  happier  still  will  be  any  one  who  keeps, 
who  grips  the  sayings  of  this  Book  and  makes  them 
his  own.  Imagine  then  that  you  are  sitting  in  some 
parlour  or  drawing-room  of  Sardis  or  Thyatira  where 
the  Christians  found  it  convenient  to  gather  and  that 
some  one  with  a  clear  voice  is  reciting  from  the  tablets 
just  received  from  the  prisoner  of  Patmos.  The  ques- 
tions asked  by  those  early  Christians  will  be  your  ques- 
tions. The  answer  that  satisfied  them  will  satisfy  men 
of  every  age.  For  ancient  and  modern  are  equally 
eternal.    The  Time  is  at  hand. 

A  Vision  that  Inspires. 

Even  my  friend  will  recognize  that  for  melody  of 
language,  as  translated  into  a  thousand  tongues,  this 
Vision  is  unsurpassed.  To  ignore  the  Apocalypse 
would  be  to  many  of  us  as  sad  a  loss  in  art  as  to  ignore 
symphonies  by  Beethoven  or  concertos  by  Grieg.  It 
was  the  Vision  of  John,  linked  with  his  own  romance, 
that  inspired  Dante  with  that  epic  of  the  unseen  which 
has  formed  Italy  into  a  nation.  To  this  Vision,  Ber- 
nard of  Clairvaux,  like  Blake,  owes  his  noblest  rhymes. 
Without  this  Vision,  Milton  could  never  have  composed 


THE  CHALLENGE  19 

his  Paradise  Lost.  This  Vision  is  the  climax  of  Bun- 
yan's  allegories.  Wedded  to  harmony,  it  sounds  in  the 
choruses  of  Handel  and  in  anthems  and  hymns  innu- 
merable. Wedded  to  colour,  it  shines  glorious  on  the 
canvas  of  Raphael,  Michael  Angelo  and  a  multitude  of 
painters.  Pre-Raphaelites  also  —  Rossetti,  Burne- 
Jones,  Ruskin — ^have  revelled  in  the  splendours  of 
heaven  unveiled,  the  sombre  magnificence  of  hell,  the 
second  death  and  the  lake  of  fire.  There  is  no  life 
without  truth,  however  formidable  the  truth  may  be, 
and  if  the  Apocalypse  has  appealed  to  the  master-minds 
of  music  and  literature,  it  is  because  master-minds  are 
only  master  when  they  have  courage  to  face  both  the 
best  and  the  worst. 

Tradition  says  that  John  of  Patmos  was  the  disciple 
whom  Jesus  loved.  I  cannot  say  for  certain  who  John 
was  nor  can  anybody  else  now  living.  But,  for  the 
moment,  let  me  assume  that  the  tradition  is  not  always, 
merely  because  it  is  tradition,  the  reverse  of  the  truth. 
I  have  found  that  in  many  ways  tradition  fits  the  facts. 
Here  was  one  who,  whether  apostle  or  not,  was  a 
leader  in  the  early  Church.  Yet  he  does  not  call  him- 
self apostle  or  even  elder.  He  comes  to  us  not  as  a 
dignitary  but  as  a  friend.  He  is  a  true  son  of  his  father 
Zebedee  who  in  the  old  days  by  the  Sea  of  Galilee 
worked  not  over  but  with  the  hired  servants  when  they 
together  mended  the  torn  nets.  It  was  as  a  companion 
in  tribulation  and  a  fellow-servant  in  Christ  that  John 
wrote  to  the  saints.  It  was  in  his  obedience  that  he 
penetrated  eternity.  While  Peter  and  Paul  had  been 
winning  the  world  for  Christ,  John  had  been  one  of 
those  who  also  serve  when  they  only  stand  and  wait. 
Scarcely  mentioned  in  the  records  of  the  spreading 
gospel,  he  had  spent  the  best  years  of  his  life  cherishing 


20  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

the  Mother  of  Our  Lord  as  Our  Lord  Himself  had 
cherished  her.  These  final  Visions  were  his  long  de- 
layed reward — what  he  called  his  kingdom  and  pa- 
tience, patience  having  conquered  the  kingdom. 

The  Child  Language. 

We  think  that  temples  and  thrones  and  trades  are 
the  greatest  things  in  the  world.  But  the  Virgin  Mary 
could  tell  John  how  as  a  boy  Our  Lord  needed  but  a 
day  or  two  to  look  at  these  things.  On  the  throne  of 
Herod,  He  would  not  waste  a  glance,  and  an  hour  was 
enough  for  His  discovery  of  the  money-changers  in 
the  sanctuary.  What  occupied  Our  Lord  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century  of  His  short  life  was  the  wonder  and 
mystery  of  an  average  home.  Mary  was  the  Matron 
who  managed  that  home,  and  such  was  her  influence 
over  John  that  he  learnt  to  tell  of  world  events  in  words 
of  one  syllable.  He  employed  not  one  symbol  which 
a  child  could  fail  to  understand.  A  lamp  on  a  lamp- 
stand,  a  crown,  a  sword,  a  cloud,  a  key,  horses,  stars, 
trumpets,  serpents,  robes,  rivers,  a  bride,  streets,  gates, 
walls,  a  lake — every  one  of  these  is  common  form 
in  the  nursery  and  in  the  fairy  tale.  That  is  why  work- 
men in  the  middle  ages,  who  could  not  read  or  write 
one  word,  were  yet  able  to  emblazon  the  Vision  in  the 
mosaics  of  their  Cathedrals  or  carve  the  Last  Judg- 
ment on  the  portals  thereof.  Instinctively  John  wrote 
as  if  you  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of  prophecy  except 
as  a  little  child.  We  talk  about  eschatology  and  psy- 
chical research  and  post-millenarianism  and  then  we 
wonder  why  miners  and  milliners  will  not  sit  through 
our  sermons.  Important  matters  should  be  put  in 
simple  terms — Stop,  Look,  Listen,  for  instance,  at  a 
railway  crossing — for  they  mean  Life  or  Death. 


THE  CHALLENGE  21 

Written  for  Wage-earners. 

It  was  as  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ  that  John  wrote, 
and  the  audience  that  he  wanted,  so  far  from  being 
confined  to  theologians  or  scholar3  or  prophetical  ex- 
perts, was  to  consist  also  of  other  servants — people, 
that  is,  who  teach  merely  in  a  Sunday  school,  who 
tend  the  unconscious  sick,  who  put  the  babies  to  bed 
and,  for  fifty-two  weeks  in  the  year,  cook  the  family 
dinner,  seven  days  a  week.  Poets  and  philosophers 
often  preach  democracy  to  the  leisured  and  learned 
classes.  But  this  John  was  a  democrat  in  very  deed. 
His  was  no  Elysium.  He  sat  in  no  chair  at  Athens — 
Oxford — Harvard.  Where  Moses  climbed  Mount 
Pisgah  and  so  surveyed  the  promised  land,  John  was 
content  with  Patmos,  never  mentioned  in  Scriptures 
save  this  once,  an  island  of  disappointed  hopes,  his  St. 
Helena.  Here  were  miners  who  worked  in  salt — who 
were  blinded  by  industrial  hardship — wage-slaves  with- 
out the  wages,  yet  even  to  these  men,  John  declared 
that  heaven  was  open.  Even  they  might  be  in  Christ, 
Kings  who  could  rule  their  circumstances  and  Priests 
who  could  enter  the  holiest.  Mastery  might  be  theirs 
and  theirs  also  might  be  worship.  No  longer  was 
history  to  be  made  in  secret  by  a  group  of  emperors 
and  statesmen.  To  housemaids  and  clerks  and  un- 
skilled labourers,  history  must  justify  herself.  No 
longer  were  wars  and  persecutions  to  be  an  unchal- 
lenged ordinance  of  rulers.  Mothers  had  a  right  to 
ask  for  what  reason  men  seized  the  babes  they  bare 
and  racked  those  innocent  limbs  and,  on  a  thousand 
barren  battle-fields,  reduced  the  bodies  of  their  sons  to 
cannon-fodder. 

Amid  intellectual  pretensions  and  Latinized  verbi- 
age, this  lowliness  of  John's  mind  was  revealed  in  the 


22  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

very  work  which  proclaimed  his  genius.  It  was  from 
the  Old  Testament,  to  which  some  of  us  have  risen 
superior,  that  he  drew  this  pure  water  of  humility.  He 
had  read  how  the  dream  of  God,  of  which  the  inter- 
pretation was  denied  to  wise  men,  astrologers,  magi- 
cians and  soothsayers,  dawned  clearly  for  a  Jewish 
exile  and  captive  whose  very  name,  Daniel,  had  been 
paganized  into  Belteshazzar.  Similarly,  Amos  was  but 
a  herdsman  of  Tekoa — a  village  as  unknown  except 
for  him  as  Nazareth  is  unknown  except  for  Christ — 
yet  to  Amos  as  to  Daniel  and  David,  the  shepherd 
lad,  service  was  the  path  to  prophecy — ^the  Secret  of 
the  Lord  was  with  them  who  fear  Him. 

Life's  Alphabet. 

In  John's  days,  as  in  our  own,  people  lived  in  a 
hurry,  with  wretchedness  and  luxury  surging  around 
them,  and  their  talk  was  of  politics,  ships,  trade, 
fashion.  In  these  matters,  doubtless,  they  were  highly 
instructed,  but  when  it  came  to  the  art  of  living  hap- 
pily— to  things  like  love  and  joy  and  peace — the  wisest 
of  that  sophisticated  age  proved  to  be  mere  infants — 
just  babes  in  Christ — who  needed  the  sincere  milk  of 
the  word  rather  than  the  strong  meat  of  advanced 
thought.  Hence  John's  first  lesson — namely,  a  teach- 
ing of  mere  letters.  Three  times  does  he  state  that  God 
is  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  First  and  the  Last,  the  Be- 
ginning and  the  End, — the  Author  and  the  Finisher  of 
our  faith.  So  far  as  that,  we  can  all  follow  his  instruc- 
tions. We  cannot  imagine  other  First  Cause — other 
Creator  than  God.  We  cannot  imagine  other  End  of 
everything  than  God.  The  trouble  has  never  been  to 
recognize  God  as  Alpha  and  God  as  Omega,  but  to 
read  the  name  of  God  in  the  intermediate  letters  of  the 


THE  CHALLENGE  23 

Alphabet.  God  is  Cause — yes;  God  is  Result — again, 
yes;  but  how  is  God  the  Process?  How  does  God  jus- 
tify the  means  to  His  Ends  ?  How  spell  His  goodness 
in  the  horror  of  Louvain  and  the  atrocities  of  Ar- 
menia? In  the  Book  of  Ecclesiastes  the  case  had  been 
argued  and  the  upshot  had  been  pessimism.  That  was 
because  the  Preacher  in  Ecclesiastes  limited  his  survey 
to  events  under  the  sun, — to  happenings  on  the  earth. 
John's  range  was  wider — infinite — embracing  heaven 
opened  and  hell  unloosed — and  his  conclusion  was 
victory.  The  grace  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with 
you  all — he  wrote ;  a  sufficient  grace  from  Jesus  Christ 
Who  is  all  powerful  Lord. 

The  Vision  is  thus  not  only  a  supreme  work  of 
art.  It  is  also  a  triumph  of  the  soul.  John  only  saw 
these  things  because  he  had  a  day  which  he  could  call 
the  Lord's  day — a  day  devoted  to  the  business  of  the 
Lord,  and  it  was  only  in  the  right  spirit  that  his  eye 
was  clear.  Because  he  was  humble,  therefore,  he  was 
frank.  Of  what  he  saw,  he  held  back  nothing.  His 
was  an  open  heaven,  openly  arrived  at,  and  it  had  noth- 
ing to  fear  from  publicity.  In  an  age  when  the  oracle 
at  Delphi,  near  by,  and  the  Eleusinian  mysteries  were 
still  a  powerful  delusion,  John  saw  the  Almighty,  face 
to  face.  Nothing,  he  declared,  is  shozvn  to  me  that  I 
may  not  show  to  you.  As  generous  men  share  wealth, 
so  John  shared  insight. 

New  Woven  from  Old. 

Because  he  was  humble,  therefore  he  was  also  sci- 
entific, recording  only  what  he  saw,  neither  more  nor 
less.  And  for  others  than  himself,  he  lays  down  the 
same  exact  rule.  Do  not  add  to  the  Book,  says  he,  and 
do  not  take  away  from  it.     On  the  one  hand  avoid 


24  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

your  owii  dogmatic  interpretations.  On  the  other 
hand,  do  not  explain  things  away.  If  you  add,  you 
will  dwell  amid  the  plagues  here  recorded  and  your 
days  will  he  darkened  thereby.  In  every  clap  of 
thunder,  you  will  dread  the  end  of  the  age.  But  if  you 
subtract,  you  will  miss  your  part  in  the  great  drama  of 
life, — you  will  dwell  outside  of  the  Holy  City — your 
face  zvill  be  unlit  by  the  radiance  of  the  Throne.  How 
perfect  was  John's  diagnosis,  first  of  those  who  have 
filled  volumes  with  their  notions  of  the  Apocalypse  and 
grown  miserable  thereby,  and  secondly  of  those  who 
throw  up  the  affair  altogether  and  never  sit  by  the 
River,  under  the  shade  of  the  Tree. 

And  there  was  another  lesson  that  John  learnt  from 
the  Mother  of  Our  Lord  and  that  was  the  Saviour's 
dependence  on  the  Old  Testament.  I  have  here  the 
usual  Oxford  Helps  to  the  Study  of  the  Bible.  One  of 
its  features  is  a  list  of  quotations  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment contained  in  the  Nezv.  But  when  we  come  to  the 
Apocalypse,  the  list  suddenly  terminates  in  this  note: 

The  whole  of  this  Book  is  a  reflex  of  the 
prophetic  visions  of  the  Old  Testament. 

And,  again: 

It  is,  therefore,  full  of  references  and  allur- 
sions  to  the  writings  of  Moses  and  the 
Prophets,  too  numerous  to  be  tabu- 
lated.    .     .     . 

Obliterate  the  Apocalypse,  therefore,  and  you 
trample  upon  a  noble  literature  that  had  been,  as  well 
as  the  noble  literature  that  was  to  be.  The  seeds  of 
which  these  Visions  are  the  full  blossom  were  sown  in 
the  agony  of  Egypt  and  Babylon  and  Syria.    Not  only 


THE  CHALLENGE  25 

Daniel,  but  Ezekiel  and  Zechariah  and  the  Psalmists 
hewed  the  stones  by  which  was  built  this  final  and 
majestic  edifice.  The  mind  of  John  was  perfect  in  its 
assimilation  of  the  finest  materials  for  genius.  Lonely 
at  Patmos,  he  had  saints  and  angels  for  company. 
Poor,  he  dwelt  amid  jewels  and  gold.  Humble,  he 
consorted  with  kings  and  priests.  Impotent,  he  moved 
armies,  destroyed  navies  and  rescued  churches.  Sin- 
ful, he  was  cleansed  and  declared  the  moral  verdict  of 
human  history.  Of  all  men  of  his  time,  he  alone  rose 
to  an  outlook,  he  alone  scanned  the  horizon,  which  was 
adequate  to  the  events  already  pending. 

If  in  adversity  he  was  content,  if  in  sorrow  he  re- 
joiced, it  was  because  his  memory  was  furnished  by 
accurate  study  of  what  was  to  him  the  only  Bible.  As 
a  resource  it  did  not  fail  him  in  the  hour  of  utter  need. 
Verses  which  perhaps  he  thought  he  had  forgotten, 
came  back  to  his  recollection  and  fitted  in  with  his 
theme,  and  no  fragment  that  remained  of  his  life's 
banquet  was  lost.  It  may  be  that  with  those  verses 
you  are  yourself  less  familiar.  Lest  that  should  de- 
tract from  your  happiness,  I  have  had  the  Vision 
printed  in  sections,  or  most  of  It,  so  that  your  memory 
may  be  refreshed,  ere  you  proceed  to  the  interpreta- 
tion. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  CATHEDRAL  AND 
SEVEN  CHAPELS 


JOHN  to  the  seven  churches  which  are  in  Asia :  Grace 
be  unto  you,  and  peace,  from  him  which  is,  and  which 
was,  and  which  is  to  come ;  and  from  the  seven  Spirits 
which  are  before  his  throne; 

And  from  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  faithful  witness,  and 
the  first  begotten  of  the  dead,  and  the  prince  of  the  kings 
of  the  earth.  Unto  him  that  loved  us,  and  washed  us  from 
our  sins  in  his  own  blood, 

And  hath  made  us  kings  and  priests  unto  God  and  his 
Father;  to  him  be  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 

Behold,  he  cometh  with  clouds;  and  every  eye  shall  see 
him,  and  they  also  which  pierced  him :   and  all  kindreds  of 
the  earth  shall  wail  because  of  him.    Even  so.  Amen. 
******* 

And  I  turned  to  see  the  voice  that  spake  with  me.  And 
being  turned,  I  saw  seven  golden  candlesticks ; 

And  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  candlesticks  one  like  unto 
the  Son  of  man,  clothed  with  a  garment  down  to  the  foot, 
and  girt  about  the  breast  with  a  golden  girdle. 

His  head  and  his  hairs  zvere  white  like  wool,  as  white 
as  snow;  and  his  eyes  were  as  a  flame  of  fire; 

And  his  feet  like  unto  fine  brass,  as  if  they  burned  in  a 
furnace;  and  his  voice  as  the  sound  of  many  waters. 

And  he  had  in  his  right  hand  seven  stars:  and  out  of 
his  mouth  went  a  sharp  twoedged  sword:  and  his  counte- 
nance was  as  the  sun  shineth  in  his  strength. 

And  when  I  saw  him,  I  fell  at  his  feet  as  dead.  And 
he  laid  his  right  hand  upon  me,  saying  unto  me,  Fear 
not ;    I  am  the  first  and  the  last : 

/  afn  he  that  liveth,  and  was  dead;  and,  behold,  I  am 
alive  for  evermore.  Amen ;  and  have  the  keys  of  hell  and 
of  death. 

Write  the  things  which  thou  hast  seen,  and  the  things 
which  are,  and  the  things  which  shall  be  hereafter ; 

The  mystery  of  the  seven  stars  which  thou  sawest  in 
my  right  hand,  and  the  seven  golden  candlesticks.  The 
seven  stars  are  the  angels  of  the  seven  churches,  and  the 
seven  candlesticks  which  thou  sawest  are  the  seven 
churches. 

—REVEiyATiON  1:4-7;  12-20. 


n 

THE  CATHEDRAL  AND  SEVEN  CHAPELS 

WE  are  living  in  an  era  of  Chaos  when  the  V^orld 
is  out  of  joint  and  mind  itself  is  disordered. 
Such  chaos,  like  all  things,  must  express  itself,  and  in 
Art,  therefore,  we  have  Cubism  and  for  a  while  Futur- 
ists flourish.  Poets  also,  as  impatient  of  rule  as  Paint- 
ers, dash  off  verses  which  have  neither  rhyme  nor 
sometimes  reason,  and  we  suppose  that  never  in  men's 
lives  has  there  been  so  mad  a  moment.  Yet  our  chaos 
is  no  more  distracting  than  the  upheaval  which  John 
had  to  face.  Satire  and  cynicism  ran  rampant  and 
moral  restraints  were  unloosed.  But,  in  John's  case, 
the  Spirit  of  God  moved  on  the  face  of  the  waters  and 
the  Art  of  the  Apostle  which  would  have  been  other- 
wise without  form  and  void,  was  moulded  like  the  Uni- 
verse itself  into  an  ordered  Creation.  He  wrote  a  Book 
with  a  plan,  and  reduced  even  Anarchy  to  an  exact  sci- 
ence. 

The  Vision  of  John  is  best  described  as  a  Cathedral, 
of  majestic  outline,  with  a  nave  and  a  chancel,  with 
deep  crypts  of  death,  with  windows  of  blazing  colour, 
with  lofty  spaces  swept  by  the  solemn  tones  of  organ 
music.  Pagan  architecture  was  cold  and  classical, 
measured  mechanically  by  arithmetic,  but  this  edifice 
of  the  imagination  lives  like  the  Gothic  of  the  medieval 
church  in  its  finest  vigour,  being  adorned  with  carven 
figures,  buds  and  trees  and  beasts  and  fishes,  with 
angels  and  apostles,  and  with  devils  for  gargoyles.    In 

29 


30  THE  YISION^  WE  FORGET 

the  noblest  Gothic,  we  can  trace  the  mark  of  the 
mason's  chisel  as  it  leaves  the  marble,  and  so  here,  the 
personal  character  of  the  man  who  was  inspired  to 
uprear  the  edifice  is  revealed  through  his  handiwork. 
In  the  youthful  years  of  John,  what  scenes  had  chiefly 
impressed  his  mind  ?  They  were  two — first,  that  Lake 
of  Galilee  with  its  ships,  its  storms,  its  sunsets,  its 
fisheries ;  and  secondly,  that  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  with 
its  gold  and  incense  and  trumpets  where  he  was  well 
known  as  a  friend  of  the  chief  priests.  Now  read 
your  Book  of  Revelation  and  what  do  you  find?  In- 
numerable references,  first,  to  a  sea  of  glass,  a  sea  of 
fire;  to  the  plague  that  destroyed  the  fishes;  to  the 
ruin  of  shipping — and  secondly,  to  the  altar  and  other 
varied  imagery  of  Jerusalem,  to  priests  and  incense,  to 
trumpets  and  the  atonement  of  sacrifice.  And  when 
John  at  last  described  the  Holy  City  itself,  what  were 
the  two  things  that  again  impressed  him?  Why,  he 
exclaimed,  /  can  find  no  Temple  herein,  and  there  is  no 
more  sea.  He  looked  instinctively  for  the  landmarks 
of  his  boyhood  and  found  that  they  had  vanished. 

Christ  in  the  Churches. 

In  this  Cathedral  of  the  Soul,  as  conceived  by  John, 
the  poorest  and  the  most  ignorant  were  invited  to  wor- 
ship. People  were  asking  when  there  would  be  the 
City  of  God,  the  Millennium  of  Peace,  the  League 
of  Nations,  the  perfect  economic  system.  John's  answer 
was  to  put  all  desirable  systems  into  his  last  chapter 
and  to  begin  a  history  of  the  future  by  forgetting 
politics  and  concentrating  his  mind  on  seven  strug- 
gling little  churches,  too  insignificant  to  be  even  men- 
tioned in  the  annals  of  Imperial  Rome.  City  of  God — 
golden  streets — gates  of  pearl, — all  these,  said  he,  will 


THE  CATHEDKAL  AND  SEVEN  CHAPELS    31 

come  in  God's  good  time.  Plagues  and  trumpets 
and  vials  of  wrath — these  we  will  consider  in  a  mo- 
ment. The  important  thing  for  plain  men  and  women 
to  grasp  first  is  that  in  the  midst  of  the  churches,  with 
their  failure  and  imperfection, — the  actual  churches 
of  Philadelphia,  Smyrna,  and  so  on,  where  living  peo- 
ple meet  for  present  worship — ^Jesus  Christ  is  still 
standing.  Let  newspapers  discuss  what  happens  in 
Parliaments  and  Conferences.  To  the  disciple,  Laod- 
icea  is  the  strategic  point.  The  mission  room  is  what 
matters, — the  Baptist  Chapel — the  Abbey  and  the 
Minster.  Politicians  must  have  quick  results — every 
election,  they  must  promise  the  City  Beautiful.  The 
dust  of  every  midday  must  be  enlightened  by  a  mirage 
of  the  desert.  God  plays  the  long  game — working 
slowly,  from  the  few  and  faithful,  to  the  many  and 
indifferent. 

At  Morning  Prayer. 

Not  in  the  Palace,  not  in  the  College,  did  the  Beatific 
Vision  burst  upon  John's  sight.  On  Sunday  morning 
he  was  in  church,  like  the  rest  of  us,  and  his  thoughts 
were  wandering — so  dull  the  sermon,  so  many  the 
vacant  pews.  Brooding  over  the  calamities  around 
him,  his  face  was  to  events  and  his  back  to  the  Christ, 
when  suddenly  behind  him,  the  Voice  sounded,  and 
he  had  to  turn  right  round — ^to  see  Jesus  and  Him 
alone.  It  was  a  great  voice — as  of  a  trumpet — it  had 
to  be — for  amid  the  clangour  of  that  civilization,  even 
John  would  not  have  heard  a  still  small  Voice.  Even 
John  had  to  be  aroused.  Even  John  had  to  change  his 
attitude. 

In  the  Book  of  Esther,  you  read  of  the  God  that 
verily  hideth  Himself.    Not  once  in  those  pages  is  His 


S2  THE  yiSION  WE  FOKGET 

providential  name  mentioned.  In  the  Revelation,  this 
hidden  God  stands  forth,  visible,  and  John,  shading  as 
it  were  his  eyes,  could  scarce  credit  his  senses.  Who 
was  this  Person,  so  near  him  yet  so  radiant  ?  It  is  One, 
he  murmured,  like  unto  the  Son  of  Man,  The  very 
phrase  suggests  hesitation — questioning — a  slow  dim 
recognition.  And  no  wonder.  For  here,  as  John  grad- 
ually discovered,  was  no  new  Apparition,  no  fleeting 
Ghost  of  an  excited  imagination.  For  the  Being  Who 
thus  appeared  was  none  other  than  the  Ancient  of 
Days  seen  of  Daniel, — none  other  than  the  Appear- 
ance, distantly  discried  by  Ezekiel,  when  he  contem- 
plated afar  off  the  sapphire  throne.  Here  then  was  the 
Christ,  at  once,  eternal  and  human, — Who  wears  our 
very  nature  on  the  throne — Who  therefore  can  be 
touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities — Who  is  clad 
as  our  Great  High  Priest — has  entered  into  the  holiest 
place — and  is  there  making  for  us  His  continual  inter- 
cession. Here  is  the  Creator  Who  governs  not  by  force 
but  by  sympathy, — Who  inflicts  and  Who  tolerates  no 
pain  which  He  Himself  does  not  share  and  suffer. 

Yet  not  on  the  throne  did  John  here  see  the  Christ, 
nor  yet — as  later — seated  in  triumph  amid  cloud 
canopies, — with  the  sharp  sickle  in  His  almighty  hand, 
— but  standing  again  on  this  very  earth,  amid  these  our 
very  candlesticks,  so  near,  so  deliberately  on  our  level, 
that  we  can  fall,  as  John  did,  at  His  very  feet.  We 
can  look  Him  in  the  eyes,  study  His  countenance,  ex- 
amine His  raiment,  hear  His  words,  and  even  keep 
Him  waiting,  while  in  our  slow  and  painful  manner 
we  write  them  down,  either  in  books  or  on  the  tables 
of  our  memory.  Others  may  be  too  busy  to  attend  to 
us,  but  not  He.  In  His  utmost  majesty,  He  is  to  the 
utmost  a  gracious  and  patient  friend.    To  every  hymn 


THE  CATHEDKAL  AND  SEVEN  CHAPELS    33 

He  listens, — in  every  anthem  His  voice  joins.  Every 
prayer,  every  sermon  interests  Him.  Every  lesson  to 
the  young — every  word  of  comfort  to  the  old — catches 
His  attention.  Nothing  that  we  attempt  is  to  Him  un- 
important. No  help  that  we  ask  is  too  great  or  too 
trivial  for  Him  to  give.  The  Christ  that  was  is  again 
the  Christ  of  to-day. 

A  Portrait  of  the  Ascended. 

Of  what  appearance,  then,  was  this  radiant  Being — 
He,  the  obscured  God  of  man's  present  life?  Others 
had  seen  Him  but  dimly ;  to  John,  He  approached  the 
nearer  because  John's  mind  was  saturated,  not  only 
with  memories  of  the  Christ  Who  walked  this  earth — 
but  with  knowledge  of  the  dynamic  Bible — ^the  Old 
Testament — which  was  Christ's  only  and  sufficient  li- 
brary. In  the  portrait  painted  by  the  Apostle,  proph- 
ecy and  reminiscence  are  wondrously  interwoven — the 
colours  are  drawn  from  Daniel  and  Ezekiel,  but  they 
clothe  and  adorn  the  personal  Friend  of  Galilee.  It 
was  Christ  in  victory.  Men  had  torn  His  vestments, 
cast  lots  for  them,  rent  them  asunder.  Here  stood  He 
once  more,  arrayed  gloriously  from  head  to  feet,  in  a 
garment  unstained  by  history,  untattered  by  war  and 
revolution,  perfect  amid  whirlwinds  of  human  passion, 
so  that  when  the  tale  of  blood  is  told,  the  casualties 
counted,  the  ruins  surveyed,  the  crime  analyzed,  men  of 
all  peoples  confess  "  At  any  rate,  it  was  not  His  fault/' 
He  still  shines,  clothed  in  righteousness. 

His  beating  heart  is  bound  firmly  with  a  girdle — a 
girdle  of  gold — that  sincere  metal  which  defies  alchemy 
and  withstands  acid — which  is  rare,  yet  indestructible 
— ^precious  yet  eternal — the  girdle  of  truth.  And  His 
hairs,  abundant  with  young  life — zvhy,  said  John,  they 


34  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

are  white  like  wool!  In  astonishment,  he  repeats  him- 
self— they  are  white,  he  says,  as  snow.  He  Who  had 
died  when  thirty-three  years  of  age.  Who  had  endured 
an  eternity  of  pain,  thus  emerged  everlasting  in  His 
experience.  Ancient  of  Days  in  His  wisdom.  But  His 
eyes  were  as  a  flame  of  fire — undimmed  by  age — un- 
quenchable by  hope  deferred.  Like  fire,  they  warm, 
they  encourage,  they  illuminate — making  the  crooked 
plain,  so  that  by  those  eyes  alone,  men  are  guided ;  like 
fire,  they  burn — consume  the  dross — warn  as  a  beacon 
— test  the  alloy,  true  from  false — gold  and  silver,  from 
wood  hay  stubble.  Bring  your  theories,  your  philoso- 
phies, your  ambitions,  your  politics,  your  pleasures, — 
whatever  you  dream,  you  hope,  you  desire, — bring 
these  things  under  the  eye  of  this  Lord  Christ,  and 
what,  precisely,  will  survive  ? 

All  who  have  seen  this  vision  agree  that  His  feet — 
pierced  and  rent  by  the  nails — are  now  strong  as  bur- 
nished brass.  Tortured  and  maltreated,  this  our  Christ 
of  to-day  is  no  cripple — hampered  in  His  progress. 
He  needs  no  sandals  of  our  devising — His  influence  is 
irresistible — His  march  along  the  highways  of  history 
is  patient  but  unfaltering — His  goings  are  established 
— tested  by  the  furnace  of  fiery  happenings,  which 
leave  Him  unscathed.    His  bruised  heel  is  restored. 

The  Universal  Voice. 

Of  His  voice,  also,  the  testimony  is  unanimous.  It 
sounded  like  many  waters.  In  the  stream  that  babbles 
by  a  village,  a  child  may  hear  it.  The  sombre  plunge 
of  a  fall  in  the  solitude  of  some  rock-bound  chasm  re- 
calls his  lonely  vigils  in  the  eternal  hills.  Niagara, 
roaring  free  and  dashing  from  dark  grottoes,  where 
her  forces  are  harnessed  to  the  service  of  man,  is  in- 


THE  CATHEDE:a:L  and  SEYEN  chapels    35 

eluded  in  those  many  waters — ^which  thunder  in  Biscay 
— which  quietly  lap  the  lazy  islands  of  the  corralled 
ocean.  Waters  symbolize  the  nations  and  the  Voice  of 
Christ  touches  all  life  at  all  points  in  all  seasons  of  all 
climates — it  is  the  universal  wisdom — the  international 
language  of  unchallengeable  command. 

Let  the  stars  be  seven — one  hand  of  His  is  enough  to 
hold  them — the  other  is  free  to  help,  to  uplift,  to  save, 
to  strike.  For  His  Power  is  inexhaustible,  beyond  all 
that  we  can  ask  or  need.  No  weapon  is  His — for  his 
very  words  are  double-edged, — encouraging  yet  warn- 
ing— assisting  yet  commanding — loving  yet  wrathful 
— a  sword  that  pierces  to  the  very  bone  and  sinew. 
Bolshevism?  What  can  artillery  accomplish  against 
Bolshevism?  How  fight  men's  thoughts  with  mere 
matter?  How  defeat  propaganda  with  bullets?  It  is 
like  bombarding  the  clouds  and  hurling  a  battering 
ram  at  the  breezes.  Bad  words  can  only  be  answered 
by  good  words,  and  anti-Christ,  by  Christ  Himself. 

And  His  countenance  shine th  as  the  sun  in  His 
strength.  Shineth,  not  frowneth, — the  clear  shining 
after  a  rain  of  tears — ^meaning  happiness, — the  joy  of 
the  Lord — that  is  His  strength  and  ours.  This  incom- 
parable leader  is  no  pessimist — ^no  critic — no  satirical 
and  disillusionized  philosopher  of  failure — He  is  out 
to  win.  From  Him  flows  the  magic  of  courage  and 
hope.  He  is  the  God  of  hope  and  the  hope,  therefore, 
of  man.  He  is  the  big  battalion.  He  is  worth  all  other 
battalions.  For  the  sun  itself  only  shines  as  He  shines 
when  the  sun  shines  in  His  strength. 

The  Christ  Grips  John. 

Such  was  Christ;  how  did  the  clear  sight  of  Him 
affect  St.  John  the  Divine — this  holiest  and  best  of 


36  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

aged  believers?  And  when  I  saw  Him,  says  the 
Apostle,  /  fell  at  His  feet  as  one  dead.  Yet  how  often 
John  had  seen  Him !  He  was  a  person  with  Whom  a 
nearer  familiarity  only  bred  a  deeper  reverence. 

Fell  as  one  dead!  Fell  headlong  from  whatever 
pinnacle  of  power  or  fame  or  pride  or  achievement  or 
goodness  on  which  he  had  been  standing !  Fell  spon- 
taneously and  unresisting!  Nor  was  it  a  new  experi- 
ence. Job  had  lived  a  righteous  man,  yet  he  also  fell 
as  one  dead.  /  have  heard  of  Thee  by  the  hearing  of 
the  ear,  wrote  he,  hut  now  mine  eye  seeth  Thee,  where- 
fore  I  abhor  myself  and  repent  in  dust  and  ashes. 
Isaiah  was  the  prophet  of  the  Messiah  and  His  evangel, 
yet  even  Isaiah,  seeing  the  Lord  in  His  Temple,  high 
and  lifted  up,  cried.  Woe  is  me,  for  I  am  undone. 
There  are  men  who  travel  uneasily  from  one  land  to 
another,  everywhere  finding  grievances,  everywhere 
exposing  abuses,  everywhere  preaching  revolt,  but 
blaming  the  other  fellow — the  King,  the  Capitalist,  the 
Bourgeoisie,  the  Conservative  Trade  Unionist, — any 
one,  provided  he  be  somebody  else.  Doubtless,  as  they 
say,  environment  is  powerful;  doubtless  heredity  does 
cling  to  us ;  but  ultimately  we  are  ourselves  responsible, 
and  ourselves  masters  of  our  fate.  If  we  do  not  go  to 
church,  it  is  because  of  ourselves  we  are  ashamed.  We 
know  that  we  need  confession.  More  than  any  reform 
around  us  must  always  be  the  humble  and  the  contrite 
heart  within  us.  David  conquered  Jerusalem.  David 
established  social  justice  and  knit  together  a  league  of 
tribes.  Yet  as  a  boy,  he  sang  under  the  tyranny  of  the 
Philistines — The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd;  I  shall  not 
want;  while  as  King — emancipator  on  a  powerful  and 
honoured  throne,  his  psalm  was — Behold,  I  was  shapen 
in  iniquity  and  in  sin  did  my  mother  conceive  me. 


THE  CATHEDRAL  AND  SEVEN  CHAPELS    37 

Dead  men  tell  no  tales  and  preach  no  gospels.  They 
who  have  fallen  and  shun  religion,  who  like  the  pub- 
lican beat  the  breast  in  despair  nor  lift  the  head,  are 
doubtless  nearer  justification  than  Pharisees,  but  their 
contrition  will  not  save  mankind.  The  monk  who  in 
his  cell  lacerates  an  unruly  flesh  is  self-centred  even  in 
his  repentance,  nor  do  his  wounds  heal  the  traveller  by 
the  roadside,  who  fell  among  thieves.  To  be  buried 
in  despair  is  suicide ;  to  be  buried  with  Christ  is  resur- 
rection. Suddenly,  John  felt  the  grip  on  him  of  that 
strong  right  hand. 

It  was  the  same  right  hand  that  held  the  seven  stars 
— the  glowing  witnesses  and  messengers  of  the  seven 
churches — and  John  found  out  thereby  that  he  also 
had  a  work  to  do. 

Prophets  and  psalmists  had  played  their  part,  patri- 
archs and  kings  had  entered  the  annals  of  history,  but 
the  grasp  of  God  on  the  churches  was  still  as  much  as 
ever  a  grasp  on  each  individual  who  goes  to  church. 
The  Hand  that  held  the  seven  stars  was  also  laid  upon 
John  of  Patmos. 

As  Christ  rose  from  the  dead,  so  must  John  write  the 
Word  that  is  alive  for  evermore.  As  Christ  was  ar- 
rayed in  the  seamless  robe  of  an  unstained  purity,  so 
would  the  saints  wash  their  robes  and  appear  with 
Him,  clad  royally  as  He,  in  the  heavens  where  is  God's 
throne.  As  the  voice  of  Christ  sounds  like  many 
waters,  so  will  sound  the  song  of  the  redeemed, — every 
word  of  God  being  echoed  by  the  ultimate  assent  of 
mankind.  John  must  write  what  he  sees — only  what 
he  sees — not  what  he  speculates,  or  thinks  out,  or 
imagines — but  what  he  is  shown.  This  is  genius,  and 
genius  is  here  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah — ^which  is  and  was 
and  ever  will  be,  to  the  end. 


CHAPTER  III 
FOR  THOSE  IN  PERIL 


HE  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith 
unto  the  churches;  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I 
give  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life,  which  is  in  the  midst 
of  the  paradise  of  God. 

******* 
Fear  none  of  those  things  which  thou  shalt  suffer:  be- 
hold, the  devil  shall  cast  some  of  you  into  prison,  that  ye 
may  be  tried;  and  ye  shall  have  tribulation  ten  days:  be 
thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown 
of  life. 

******* 
I  have  a  few  things  against  thee,  because  thou  sufferest 
that  woman  Jezebel,  which  calleth  herself  a  prophetess, 
to  teach  and  to  seduce  my  servants  to  commit  fornication, 
and  to  eat  things  sacrificed  unto  idols. 

******* 
Be  watchful,  and  strengthen  the  things  which  remain, 
that  are  ready  to  die:    for  I  have   not    found   thy   works 
perfect  before  God. 

H:  *****  * 

Behold,   I   come   quickly:    hold   that   fast  which   thou 
hast,  that  no  man  take  thy  crown. 

4c  *****  4: 

— Revei,ation  2-3:22. 


Ill 

FOR  THOSE  IN  PERIL 

WE  read  these  seven  letters,  if  we  read  them  at  all, 
luxuriously,  with  the  pleasant  feel  of  limp 
Morocco  leather  between  our  fingers.  We  fail  to  real- 
ize what  the  rough  tablets,  scrawled  with  irregular 
Greek  characters,  meant  to  the  little  groups  of  Chris- 
tians, meeting  often  in  secret,  as  their  strange  contents 
were  recited  at  some  service,  and  again  recited  until 
every  syllable  was  known  by  heart.  We  softly  com- 
plain that  the  strain  of  reading  the  Bible  is  too  much 
for  our  will-power  in  these  days  of  emergent  Pagan- 
ism. What  about  those  folk  in  Asia  Minor,  who  had 
not  one-tenth  part  of  our  educational  advantages,  to 
whom  Hebrew  was  a  foreign  tongue,  who  yet  were  ex- 
pected as  recent  converts  to  be  familiar,  more  familiar 
than  many  of  us  are,  with  the  old  stories  of  Balaam  and 
Balak  and  Jezebel?  In  the  Whole  of  this  Vision  there 
is  not,  I  think,  one  reference  to  the  myths  of  Greece 
and  Rome,  so  perfect  an  instrument  of  warning  and 
encouragement  was  the  Jewish  Bible  found  to  be.  The 
idea  of  winning  these  Laodiceans  back  to  their  first 
zeal  by  means  of  idolatrous  displays  was  not  enter- 
tained for  an  instant.  As  they  became  more  and  more 
lukewarm,  so  did  the  message  become  what  we  call 
narrower  and  narrower  in  its  severity.    You  feel  at 

41 


42  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

every  point  the  stern  yet  skilful  hand  of  the  great  Sur- 
geon Who  knows  that  to  flatter  a  patient  as  to  his  con- 
dition is  to  betray  him. 

The  authority  of  the  Bible  —  its  value  as  an 
instrument  of  counsel  in  the  church — is  emphasized 
also  by  a  strange  omission.  Among  these  churches 
Paul  had  laboured  for  years.  To  the  Ephesians  he  had 
written  an  Epistle  which  still  survives.  Yet  Paul  is  not 
mentioned.  The  Church's  one  foundation  is  declared 
to  be,  unmistakably,  Jesus  Christ  the  Lord.  The  min- 
ister of  the  Gospel,  however  illustrious,  must  share  that 
supreme  heritage.  Apollos  also  has  disappeared, — and 
Silas, — and  Timothy,  first  Bishop  of  Ephesus.  Only 
by  delicate  and  exquisite  inference  can  we  trace  the 
continuing  wisdom  of  the  great  Apostle.  PauFs  con- 
troversies with  the  Jews  were  justified  years  later  by 
that  terrible  phrase  a  synagogue  of  Satan  used  by 
John.  Paul's  warning  to  the  Ephesian  elders  that  after 
his  departing,  grievous  wolves  would  enter  in,  not 
sparing  the  flock,  is  echoed  by  John's  complaint  against 
those  which  say  they  are  apostles  and  are  not,  and  are 
thus  found  liars ;  while,  thirdly,  we  have  a  hint,  even  in 
Paul's  day,  that  Laodicea  was — as  John  put  it — luke- 
warm. He  wrote  three  epistles  to  these  churches — 
to  Ephesus, — to  Colosse,  hard  by — and  to  Laodicea. 
Two  of  these  epistles  are  carefully  preserved.  The 
third,  to  Laodicea,  is  lost — mislaid. 

The  Nicolaitanes. 

A  candlestick,  as  we  shall  see,  is  conservative;  but 
the  light  thereon  may  shine  more  brightly  with  every 
age ;  and  illuminate  an  ever-widening  range  of  activity. 
Paul  never  mentioned  Nicolaitanes  or  the  woman  Jeze- 
bel or  Balaam  or  Balak.    The  era  of  John  the  Divine 


♦  FOR  THOSE  IN  PERIL  43 

in  Patmos,  like  every  era,  had  thus  its  own  perils,  jts^ 
own  need  for  counsel  from  the  Eternal  Christ.  (People 
have  suggested  that  the  Nicolaitanes  must  have  been 
heretics,  led  astray  by  Nicolas,  the  deacon  of  Antioch. 
The  idea  is  only  guesswork,  on  which  none  can  have 
any  certainty.  The  Nicolaitanes  stand  forever  unde- 
fined— ^the  type  of  disciple  that  depends  on  man  rather 
than  God,  on  eloquence  rather  than  the  Spirit,  on  in- 
terpretation rather  than  the  Word  itself,  on  the  clergy- 
man and  the  preacher  rather  than  the  Christ  Who  was 
crucified  and  rose  againjAny  deed  which  substitutes 
Nicolas,  whoever  Nicolas  may  be,  for  the  One  Lord, 
is  a  deed  hated  of  God. 

The  Woman,  Jezebel. 

Jezebel  was  in  beauty  and  in  wealth,  as  by  birth,  a 
queen  in  high  society.  Whatever  Jezebel  patronized, 
be  it  spiritualism  or  the  Ouija  board  or  card-playing 
for  high  stakes,  became  the  vogue.  Born  in  Zidon,  her 
marriage  with  Ahab,  King  of  Israel,  was  a  match  be- 
tween Jew  and  Pagan.  The  husband  listened  to  the 
prophet  whom  the  wife  would  have  slain.  Before 
murdering  Naboth  for  the  sake  of  his  vineyard  he  did 
at  least  hesitate.  Men  are  brutes,  but,  if  the  worst  is 
the  corruption  of  the  best,  it  is  perhaps  inevitable  that 
uttermost  loss  of  soul  should  be  symbolized  in  the 
woman  who  mourned  the  death  of  her  son  by  painting 
her  face  like  a  courtesan  and  tiring  her  hair.  Among 
the  humble  folk  of  Thyatira,  Jezebel  was  doubtless  the 
one  woman  of  position.  Her  limousine  at  the  door — 
the  rustle  of  her  silk  dress — her  jewels — her  money  in 
the  collection — they  had  to  be  "  suffered."  Somehow 
or  other  there  had  to  be  for  Jezebel  a  special  standard 
of  conduct.     Yet  as  her  prototype  was  cast  from  the 


44  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

window  of  the  palace  into  the  street,  there  to  be  food 
for  dogs,  so  does  the  Ahnighty  deal  in  every  age  with 
the  long  dynasty  of  ladyships  who  pet  charlatans,  play 
idly  with  intellectual  and  aesthetic  prigs,  dally  with  for- 
tune tellers  and  wanderers  in  by-paths,  while  the  poor 
and  the  needy  starve  and  plot  a  futile  revenge.  For 
even  Jezebel,  with  her  painted  face  and  false  hair,  must 
one  day  give  answer  to  Him  Who  searches  the  hearts. 
All  must  know  that,  even  for  Jezebel,  the  popular  ap- 
plause, the  photographs  in  the  press,  the  descriptions  of 
her  dresses,  the  lists  of  her  distinguished  guests,  will 
count  for  nothing  but  mental  anguish, — will  mean 
nothing  but  the  death  of  her  children — the  ruin  of  the 
generation  that  ought  to  have  arisen.  She  is  John's 
first  glimpse  of  the  Scarlet  Lady,  riding  on  the  Beast. 
It  was  in  the  Church  that  he  had  to  face,  first,  the 
follies  of.  fashion,  which  he  found  afterwards  in  the 
world  at  large. 

Modern  Idolatry. 

For  the  Church,  as  for  the  People  of  Israel,  there 
was  arising  a  plain  issue.  Thousands  of  years  before, 
this  issue  had  brought  the  prophets  Balaam  and  Moses 
into  direct  collision.  In  terms  of  the  Israelite  era,  the 
issue  was  this — whether  marriage  should  or  should  not 
be  arranged  between  the  worshippers  of  Jehovah  and 
heathen  Moabites;  Balaam  said  yes,  and  Moses  said 
no.  Among  the  Asiatic  Christians,  what  was  essen- 
tially the  same  issue  became  a  struggle  between  mar- 
riage, as  ordained  for  the  disciples,  and  a  much  less 
exacting  relation,  suggesting  easy  divorce  and  the  de- 
struction of  all  that  is  meant  by  home,  by  family,  by 
domestic  obligation.  Even  at  this  early  date,  we  are 
able  clearly  to  distinguish  between  marriage  as  insti- 


FOR  THOSE  IN  PEEIL  45 

tuted  by  Christ  and  marriage  in  a  community  which 
has  become  nominal  in  its  Christianity. 

Food  sacrificed  to  idols  is  also  a  phrase  of  easy  ex- 
planation. In  the  Gospels,  there  is  but  one  banquet 
mentioned,  at  which  Christ  was  not  a  guest ;  and  that 
banquet  cost  John  the  Baptist,  the  forerunner  of 
Christ,  his  head.  At  the  marriage  supper  of  Cana,  in 
Galilee,  at  the  picnics  on  the  hillside,  in  the  home  at 
Bethany  and  in  the  upper  room,  the 'needs  of  the  body 
were  symbols  of  His  grace,  and  He  alone  was  magni- 
fied. Any  dinner  party  which  suggests  the  worship  of 
wealth,  the  aggrandizement  of  pedigree,  exclusiveness 
of  caste,  display  of  extravagance, — any  such  occasion 
means  food  sacrificed  to  idols.  It  matters  not  who  is 
host,  or  who  the  hostess — the  objective  is  idolatry. 
The  result  must  be  tribulation,  social  unrest,  war  and 
upheaval. 

Take  the  church  to  which  you  belong.  Then,  in  the 
silence  of  your  room,  think  of  that  church  until  you 
hear  those  words  of  God,  '"/  know  thy  works" 
Manuscripts  vary,  but  in  our  translation — /  know  thy 
works — is  the  preface  to  whatever  else  was  said  to  the 
particular  church.  And  knowing  the  works,  God  says 
not  a  syllable  more  about  them.  In  His  report,  the 
building  fund,  the  debt  on  the  organ,  the  mortgage  on 
the  Sunday  school,  the  architect's  plans  for  a  lady 
chapel,  the  choice  of  a  pastor,  do  not  appear,  even  by  a 
hint.  Labour,  patience,  an  abhorrence  of  evil, — charity 
and  service  and  faith — opportunity  and  environment 
and  temptation, — these  are  the  qualities — the  circum- 
stances which  the  Almighty  analyzed  and  over  which 
the  Spirit  brooded.  Men  and  women  and  children,  not 
bricks  and  mortar,  were  His  concern — flesh  and  blood, 
not  pews  and  ventilation  and  a  corner  site.    In  everj^ 


46  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

one  of  these  letters,  the  values  which  appear  as  a  rule 
in  our  ecclesiastical  balance-sheets  are  ignored. 

The  Case  of  Laodicea. 

I  can  find  little  support  for  our  notion  that  member- 
ship of  a  church  should  be  made  easy  and  attractive. 
The  one  popular  Church  was  Laodicea,  and  Laodicea 
was  only  fit  to  be  spued  out  of  the  mouth  of  God.  Ef- 
fort, pain,  risk,  death  were  the  inducements  offered  to 
those  earliest  converts,  and  the  fate  of  Antipas,  the 
martyr  of  Pergamos,  proved  that  these  grim  words 
were  fact. 

To  six  out  of  seven  of  the  Churches,  the  word  was 
Repent — Change  not  your  services,  your  methods,  your 
ministers,  so  much  as  your  hearts  and  your  minds ;  and 
in  the  seventh  Church — that  of  Smyrna, — the  word,  if 
not  repent,  was,  at  least,  hold  fast.  That  is  not  what 
newspapers  or  critics  or  speakers  at  conferences  now 
say  to  the  Churches,  but  it  is  what  the  Spirit  says. 
That  ugly  word,  fornication,  which  occurs  so  often  in 
these  pages,  means  the  attempt  to  make  the  Church 
correspond  with  the  world,  to  unite  the  cause  of  Christ 
with  the  customs  and  the  selfishness  of  society,  to 
despoil  the  marriage  feast  where  He  alone  is  Bride- 
groom. 

Hence,  there  was  needed  for  the  Church  a  new 
and  unusual  name.  What  Jews  call  a  synagogue  and 
what  we  call  a  congregation  means  simply  a  gathering 
of  people  together.  That  is  the  idea  behind  a  club,  a 
conference,  a  trade  union.  But  a  church  means 
something,  expressed  differently  from  this.  Its  mem- 
bers are  people  who  have  been  called  away — who  have 
left  something  behind — who  have  come  out  of  some 
city — who  are  separate  and  even  peculiar.    That  is  the 


FOE  THOSE  IN  PEKIL  47 

significance  of  the  Greek  term — Ecclesia,  And  in 
reading  these  letters,  one  has  the  ment^  picture  of 
groups  of  soldiers,  sitting  through  the  night  around  the 
camp-fire,  and  receiving  their  final  orders  before  going 
over  the  top.  Their  equipment  is  less  important  than 
their  morale.  And  their  morale  depends  upon  the  cer- 
tainty of  victory.  Before  the  City  of  God  rises  in 
grandeur  above  the  destinies  of  mankind,  there  must 
be  the  single  combat,  w^here  each  separate  soldier  does 
his  bit;  where  the  individual  overcomes.  Change  of 
system — legislation — reform — ^yes;  but  loyalty  and 
sacrifice  first. 

So  must  we  now  end  our  brief  worship  within  those 
seven  chapels  of  Asia  which  clung  so  closely  to  the 
sanctuary  of  the  Most  High.  We  have  seen  how  from 
each  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  Christ,  gloriously  ar- 
rayed before  the  throne.  Each  glimpse  was  imperfect, 
but  there  was  one  man  among  those  churches  who  en- 
tered the  sanctuary  and  saw  the  Christ  in  His  com- 
plete majesty.  And  that  man,  John,  sat  lonely  on 
Patmos. 

Glimpses  of  the  Ideal  City. 

Now,  as  we  leave  the  seven  chapels,  let  us  glance,  as 
it  were,  through  the  traceried  windows,  to  the  land- 
scape beyond,  seeing  other  glimpses,  not  this  time  of 
the  Redeemer,  but  of  the  kingdom  to  be  conquered, — 
of  His  ultimate  triumph  in  the  souls  of  men  and  in 
their  societies.  Once  more,  these  glimpses  are  imper- 
fect and  fleeting — each  no  more  than  a  hint  of  the 
whole  prospect.  Yet  each  hint,  the  truth.  Piece  to- 
gether these  hopes  and  ideals,  and  you  begin  dimly  to 
perceive  the  final  vision,  the  City  of  God. 

Each  little  Asian  Church  added  something  to  that 


48  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

splendid  and  universal  hope.  What  Ephesus  saw  afar 
off  was  the  tree  of  life  in  the  midst  of  the  paradise  of 
God.  Smyrna  perceived  that  even  the  second  death 
would  not  harm  the  Saints.  Pergamos  realized  that 
in  the  golden  city,  each  of  the  blessed  would  retain  un- 
impaired his  individuality, — which  would  be  sustained 
by  manna,  hidden  from  all  others, — and  guaranteed  by 
the  white  stone  of  a  signet,  with  a  new  name,  known 
only  to  him  to  whom  it  belongs.  Thyatira  learnt  that 
however  feeble  in  numbers  and  influence  might  be  her 
disciples  now,  the  day  would  surely  dawn  when  to 
them  alone  would  be  entrusted  povv-er — that  nations 
would  be  shivered  in  pieces  except  as  they  became 
Christian  nations, — and  that  the  star  of  Bethlehem  is 
a  morning,  not  an  evening  star,  heralding  not  the  night, 
but  the  day. 

Three  blessings  follow,  each  more  intimate  than  the 
last,  as  if  the  voice  of  a  trumpet  were  becoming  a 
whisper  in  the  ear.  Sardis  was  told  of  the  saints  in 
white  robes,  their  names  in  the  Book  of  Life,  not  to  be 
challenged  by  ecclesiastic  or  theologian, — names  con- 
fessed by  Christ  Himself  before  God  and  the  angels. 
Philadelphia  was  thrilled  with  the  certain  hope  that  the 
pillar  of  the  Church  would  be,  neither  money  nor  po- 
litical prestige,  but  any  man  within  the  Church  who  is 
faithful  to  the  One  Lord  of  the  Church.  And  that 
man  would  be  stamped  with  the  name  of  God  Himself. 
In  him  would  be  embodied  whatever  is  meant  by  the 
City  of  God.  In  that  rnan  the  name  of  Christ  Himself 
would  have  a  new  meaning.  Through  that  man  more 
would  be  seen  in  Christ  than  had  yet  been  revealed. 

But  it  was  to  the  lukewarm  Laodiceans,  that,  in  full 
and  final  measure,  the  love  of  Christ  was  poured  forth, 
with  an  abundance  which  suggests  that  however  prod- 


FOE  THOSE  IN  PERIL  49 

igal  may  have  been  the  sinner,  in  the  parable,  far  more 
prodigal  was  the  Friend  of  Sinners.  Never  mind  the 
Church — it  is  as  if  He  said — it  may  be  lukewarm.  But 
behold  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock.  If  any  one  man 
open  the  door,  I  will  come  in  unto  him,  and  will  sup 
with  him,  and  he  with  me.  And  whatever  throne  be 
mine,  on  that  throne  also  shall  he  sit  with  me.  As  the 
Church  tottered  and  fell,  so  did  He  hold  firm  to  all 
who  were  His. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  LAMPS  THAT  SHINE 


As  many  as  I  love,  I  rebuke  and  chasten:  be  zealous 
therefore  and  repent. 
Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door,  and  knock;  if  any 
man  hear  my  voice,  and  open  the  door,  I  will  come  in 
to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  me. 

—Revelation  3 :  19,  20. 


'IV 

THE  LAMPS  THAT  SHINE 

ON  his  long  search  for  the  City  of  God,  John 
started  from  the  precise  point  where  we  stand. 
The  fact  which  drove  him  forth  was  our  fact,  namely 
failure,  not  alone  the  failure  of  civilization  but  the 
failure  of  organized  religion  itself.  While  we  spend 
millions  on  surveys  and  enquiries  and  publish  elabo- 
rate reports  with  statistical  diagrams,  John's  probe — 
to  use  a  delightful  expression — was  simpler.  How 
men  and  women  estimate  the  churches  is  doubtless  im- 
portant, but  much  more  important  is  what  God  thinks 
of  them.  What  we  should  have  written  in  many  vol- 
umes, John  explained  in  a  few  pages,  nor  did  he  select 
the  largest  churches  only  for  his  scrutiny.  To  him, 
little  Sardis  was  just  as  well  worth  attention  as  the 
more  conspicuous  Ephesus.  Congregations  might  dif- 
fer from  one  another  in  size  and  wealth  but  not  in  the 
love  that  was  set  upon  them.  The  humble  conventicle 
in  the  village  away  up  the  remote  valley  was  as  dear 
to  the  Eternal  as  the  prominent  pulpit  on  a  world 
famous  avenue  or  fashionable  square. 

Essentially,  John's  idea  of  a  church  was  conserva- 
tive— ^not  the  headlamp  of  an  automobile  in  full  career, 
but  a  candlestick  or  lampstand,  upright  as  a  lighthouse 
amid  surging  currents.  The  candlestick  was  made  of 
gold — costliest  of  all  metals  and  unalloyed.  For  the 
Church,  nothing  was  to  be  reckoned  too  valuable — no 
window  too  beautiful — no  picture  too  rare — no  music 

53 


64  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

too  glorious — ^no  jewels  too  splendid  for  chalice  or 
altar.  Yet  in  itself  the  candlestick,  however  gorgeous, 
as  in  Spain,  can  give  no  light.  Without  Christ,  they 
could  do  nothing.  Indeed,  the  trouble  has  never  been 
with  the  candlestick.  In  the  Christian,  as  in  other  re- 
ligions, there  is  always  money  available  for  an  ornate 
display.  But  what  about  the  lamp  on  the  lampstand? 
Oil  for  the  lamp  is  apt  to  be  forgotten.  The  flame 
flickers  in  the  breeze.  Scriptures  are  neglected,  and 
when  the  light  goes  out  the  golden  candlestick  is  itself 
engulfed  in  the  surrounding  darkness.  Museums  are 
crowded  with  ecclesiastical  furniture  which  has  become 
merely  curious.  Landscapes  are  littered  with  churches 
where  prayer  will  be  heard  no  more.  In  London  places 
of  worship  often  disappear  or  become  warehouses  or 
even  adjuncts  for  breweries.  The  candlestick,  as  at 
Ephesus,  is  removed  out  of  its  place. 

The  Failure  of  "Attractions." 

That  removal  is  the  act  of  God  Himself.  He  alone 
holds  fast  those  stars  and  no  one  can  pluck  them  out 
of  His  hand.  Churches  may  be  disestablished  and  dis- 
endowed, may  lose  their  privileges,  or  like  the  Churches 
in  Asia,  have  no  privileges  to  lose.  Nonconforming 
ministers  may  be  driven  into  exile,  and  Covenanters 
onto  the  slopes  of  mountains.  But,  like  Smyrna,  to 
this  very  day,  they  can  overcome, — win  the  battle, — 
and  the  prize.  But  not,  I  think,  by  any  mere  artifice — 
movies — sensation — advertisement.  So  far  from  urg- 
ing his  friends  to  keep  up  with  the  times,  John's  teach- 
ing tended  the  other  way.  Do  the  first  works,  he  said, 
remember  zvhence  thou  art  fallen;  he  faithful;  hold 
fast  till  Christ  comes;  he  zvatchful  and  strengthen  the 
things  that  remain;  let  no  man  take  thy  crown — haul 


THE  LAMPS  THAT  SHINE  55 

down  thy  flag.  The  Christians  were  thus  a  garrison 
standing  siege.  Their  danger  was  from  lukewarm 
friends  within  the  fortress.  What  they  had  to  fear  was 
the  warriors  who  were  less  than  one  hundred  per  cent. 
When  in  these  days  churches  languish,  we  blame  the 
minister.  Not  so  John.  He  does  not  trouble  even  to 
give  the  name  of  the  angel  or  missionary  to  each  of 
these  seven  churches.  Eloquent  or  dull,  famous  or 
obscure,  the  man  is  of  no  more  significance  than  the 
postman  who  brings  you  a  letter.  Having  delivered 
precisely  that  message  which  was  committed  to  him, 
the  minister's  duty  is  fulfilled.  The  whole  respon- 
sibility then  devolves  upon  the  congregation.  Of  num- 
bers, we  are  told  nothing — it  may  have  been  a  hundred 
or  a  thousand — what  matter?  The  only  question  is 
whether  in  that  crowd  there  is  even  one  man  or  woman 
who  has  ears  to  hear — not  the  words  of  a  man  at  all — 
but  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches.  For  each 
of  the  seven  Societies,  this  rule  is  separately  stated,  and 
in  identical  terms.  It  thus  becomes  a  rule  of  universal 
applicaton.  Be  the  church  large  or  small,  fashionable 
or  socialist,  that  man  who  listens — that  woman  who 
hears — alone  counts.  If  the  rest  are  deaf,  it  is  not  the 
preacher's  fault  unless  he  fails  to  deliver  the  appointed 
gospel.  People  were  also  deaf  to  Him  Who  spoke  as 
did  none  other.  He  also  had  to  seek  painfully  for  the 
listener  who  had  ears  to  hear.  And  John  was  careful 
to  utter  no  word  for  these  churches  which  could  not  be 
put  direct  into  the  mouth  of  Christ — the  First  Person 
Singular — Jehovah,  I  Am. 

The  Varied  Vision. 

For  the  Moslems  in  all  lands,  Mahomet  has  one  mes- 
sage.   The  Roman  Mass  is  also  a  world-wide  act  of 


56  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

uniformity.  Not  so  with  these  letters  to  the  Churches. 
In  the  first  chapter  of  his  Apocalypse,  John  saw  Christ 
as  a  whole,  from  His  face  to  His  feet.  But  now  we 
have  the  blessed  Body  of  Our  Lord  broken  for  us,  and 
freely  given  in  distributed  fragments  to  each  Church, 
according  to  the  people's  need.  Every  such  gift  is  au- 
thentic— proven — familiar.  If  Christ  walks  among  the 
candlesticks,  it  is  to  give  us  actually  of  His  very  Self. 
Note  how  the  original  description  of  Him  in  Chapter 
One  is  repeated  in  the  succeeding  chapters.  At 
Ephesus,  they  had  lost  that  first  love  which  Paul  com- 
pared with  the  devotion  of  husband  for  wife,  and  to 
the  Ephesians,  therefore,  Christ  is  just  Himself — pres- 
ent— and  enough.  Smyrna  must  endure  persecution, 
and  to  her,  Christ  comes  as  the  One  Who,  though  dead, 
now  lives — Who  has  conquered  pain  and  the  tomb. 
Pergamos  was  rent  by  controversy,  and  Christ  there 
appears  with  two  edged  sword — with  words  of  cold 
steel — which  like  the  surgeon's  lancet  cut  in  order  to 
save.  Thyatira  has  a  touch  of  worldliness  and  she  must 
meet  Christ  with  His  eyes  of  flame — His  feet  of  brass; 
must  know  Christ  as  the  judge  of  fashion — the  con- 
queror of  drawing-rooms.  To  the  formalists  of 
Sardis,  Christ  came  as  Spirit — to  be  received  without 
symbol  or  ceremony  —  so  awakening  the  dead. 
Troubled  by  Jews,  Philadelphia  found  in  Christ  the 
Key  of  David, — the  clue  to  Hebrew  annals — the  door 
which,  once  opened  to  Gentiles,  could  never  again  be 
shut.  And  Laodicea,  lukewarm,  had  to  face  Christ  as 
a  faithful  witness,  not  to  be  trifled  with, — the  Amen, 
appeal  against  Whose  final  judgment  is  unthinkable. 

If  then  this  vision  of  John  can  be  likened  unto  a 
cathedral,  built  nobly  for  the  worship  of  all  good 
things  and  splendid  purposes,  then,  as  it  seems  to  me. 


THE  LAMPS  THAT  SHINE  5Y 

these  seven  letters  to  the  churches  are  as  the  chapels 
which  cluster  around  the  inner  sanctuary.  These  an- 
cient yet  eternal  chantries  of  the  soul  we  may  enter, 
one  by  one,  and  there  humbly  kneel  in  the  very  com- 
pany of  those  earliest  martyrs  who  lived  and  died  for 
the  cause  of  the  Redeemer.  From  no  single  chapel  can 
we  see  all  that  Christ  is  to  the  world,  but,  from  each,  if 
we  looked  through  lofty  arch  and  pillared  aisle,  we  can 
catch  a  glimpse  of  His  glorious  Person,  radiant  amidst 
all  the  communions  that  ever  were,  that  are  or  ever 
will  be.  The  men  of  Smyrna  do  not  see  the  Christ  as 
the  Christ  is  seen  by  the  men  of  Sardis,  but  neither 
Sardis  nor  Smyrna  dare  deny  that  Christ  is  one  and 
the  same  for  all — that  all  His  messages  are  bound  in- 
divisible in  the  one  volume  of  the  Book  that  is  written. 
Nor  will  His  majesty  be  fully  revealed  until  all  that 
is  found  in  Him  by  all  men,  east  and  westj  Koreans, 
Chinese,  Brazilians  and  Americans,  is  blended  into  one 
portrait — preexistent  to  mankind  itself — and  even  so, 
inexhaustible. 


CHAPTER  V 
SUNRISE  OVER  PATMOS 


AFTER  this  I  looked,  and  behold,  a  door  was  opened 
!n  heaven :  and  the  first  voice  which  I  heard  was  as 
it  were  of  a  trumpet  talking  with  me;  which  said. 
Come  up  hither,  and  I  will  shew  thee  things  which  must  be 
hereafter. 

And  immediately  I  was  in  the  spirit:  and,  behold,  a 
throne  was  set  in  heaven,  and  one  sat  on  the  throne. 

And  he  that  sat  was  to  look  upon  like  a  jasper  and  a  sar- 
dine stone:  and  there  was  a  rainbow  round  about  the 
throne,  in  sight  like  unto  an  emerald. 

And  round  about  the  throne  were  four  and  twenty 
seats :  and  upon  the  scats  I  saw  four  and  twenty  elders 
sitting,  clothed  in  white  raiment;  and  they  had  on  their 
heads  crowns  of  gold. 

And  out  of  the  throne  proceeded  lightnings  and  thunder- 
ings  and  voices :  and  there  were  seven  lamps  of  fire  burn- 
ing before  the  throne,  which  are  the  seven  Spirits  of  God. 

And  before  the  throne  there  was  a  sea  of  glass  like  unto 
crystal :  and  in  the  midst  of  the  throne,  and  round  about 
the  throne,  were  four  beasts  full  of  eyes  before  and  be- 
hind. 

And  the  first  beast  was  like  a  lion,  and  the  second  beast 
like  a  calf,  and  the  third  beast  had  a  face  as  a  man,  and 
the  fourth  beast  zvas  like  a  flying  eagle. 

And  the  four  beasts  had  each  of  them  six  wings  about 
him;  and  ih^y  were  full  of  eyes  v/ithin:  and  they  rest  not 
day  and  night,  saying,  Holy,  holy,  holy.  Lord  God  Al- 
mighty, which  was,  and  is,  and  is  to  come. 

And  when  those  beasts  give  glory  and  honour  and 
thanks  to  him  that  sat  on  the  throne,  who  liveth  for  ever 
and  ever. 

The  four  and  twenty  elders  fall  down  before  him  that 
sat  on  the  throne,  and  worship  him  that  liveth  for  ever  and 
ever,  and  cast  their  crowns  before  the  throne,  saying. 

Thou  art  worthy,  O  Lord,  to  receive  glory  and  honour 
and  power:  for  thou  hast  created  all  things,  and  for  thy 
pleasure  they  are  and  were  created. 

—Revelation  4:1-11. 


SUNRISE  OVER  PATMOS 

IN  the  island  of  Patmos,  they  still  show  you  the 
grotto  from  which  they  say  that  John  saw  God. 
He  had  suffered  an  uneasy  night  and  was  so  worn  out 
that  tears  came  quickly.  It  was  a  shock  to  hear  that  a 
church,  so  prosperous  as  Laodicea,  was  only  fit  to  be 
spued  out  of  the  niouth  of  the  Almighty.  Not  only 
had  John  expected  a  kingdom  on  earth,  but  he  had 
hoped  for  a  chief  place  within  it.  As  a  boy,  he  and 
his  brother  James  had  seen  Jesus  with  their  very  eyes, 
and  Jesus — rather  after  the  manner  of  David  in  his 
dealings  with  the  masterful  Sons  of  Zeruiah — ^had  nick- 
named them,  Boanerges,  the  sons  of  thunder.  But 
years  ago,  James  had  been  murdered  by  Herod  and  no- 
body was  left  to  care.  John  had  survived  every  one 
and  the  only  reward  was  Patmos. 

As  a  lad,  he  had  heard  in  the  synagogue  of  Isaiah. 
That  prophet  had  outlived  the  great  reign  of  King 
Uzziah.  For  fifty-two  years,  more  than  half  a  century, 
the  Philistines  had  been  defeated,  and  after  them,  the 
Arabians,  while  the  Ammonites  brought  gifts  and 
Egypt  learnt  to  respect  Judah.  Jerusalem  had  been 
fortified.  Towers  had  been  built  and  wells  digged  in 
the  desert.  Husbandry  was  encouraged  and  an  army 
had  been  trained  and  equipped  with  the  latest  weapons 
and  engines  of  war.  It  was  imperialism  at  its  best. 
Yet  no  King — no  Kaiser  ever  died  a  more  shameful 

6i 


62  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

death.  Blasphemously  claiming  divine  right,  Uzziah 
had  approached  the  altar,  not  as  penitent  but  as  priest, 
and  had  been  smitten  with  leprosy.  And  it  was  in  the 
very  year  of  gloom  when  he  died  that  Isaiah,  the  disil- 
lusioned, saw  God.  This  was  what  John  recalled — 
how  a  proud  king  might  be  rejected  while  a  poor 
prophet  was  ever  welcome. 

Sitting  there  in  his  grotto  he  would  have  been  the 
last  to  compare  himself  either  with  Isaiah  or  with 
Moses,  on  the  mount.  Yet  he  saw  more  of  God  than 
either.  In  the  long  hours  of  darkness,  he  had  descried 
the  distant  lights  of  villages  and  towns  and  had  re- 
membered how  Christ  had  said  that  His  Churches 
should  be  lamps  on  a  lampstand.  With  the  dawn,  he 
had  picked  out  the  morning  star  that  shone  over  Thy- 
atira,  and  this  dawn  of  a  new  day  over  old  Rome,  this 
coming  of  a  new  era  of  education  and  progress  and 
thought,  seemed  to  dim  the  ecclesiastical  candles,  so 
essential  to  a  dark  age,  till  one  by  one  they  flickered 
out. 

The  Salvation  of  Genius. 

Many  a  man,  so  disillusioned,  has  drifted  into  C)mi- 
cism  and  luxury  and  crime.  Many  another  has  fallen 
prey  to  some  cult,  strange,  yet  soon  found  to  be  arid. 
Many  leave  the  churches,  never  to  darken  again  their 
doors,  and  when  the  imposing  structure  of  Catholicism 
comes  crashing  to  the  ground,  little  is  usually  left  but 
rationalism  and  a  citizenship  liberated  from  "  the  su- 
perstitions "of  religion.  From  fates  so  common,  it  was 
Christ  Who  rescued  John.  Even  of  Genius  in  exile, 
as  Dante  discovered,  is  He  the  Saviour.  With  the 
voice  of  a  trumpet  as  at  the  first,  He  spoke  again  to 
John,  and  John  though  overwrought  and  hysterical 


SUNKISE  OVER  PATMOS  63 

with  the  worry  and  stress  of  Hfe,  while  he  wept  much, 
did  not  despair  or  curse  God  ere  he  died. 

Fishermen,  watching  that  sunrise,  remarked  only  on 
the  weather.  They  heard  the  thunder,  saw  the  light- 
ning and  by  the  rainbow  knew  of  the  rain.  It  was 
Christ  Who  in  His  love  changed  that  tempestuous 
dawn  for  John  into  a  vision  of  the  Eternal.  Within 
those  clouds  was  a  door  opened  into  heaven  itself. 
Let  every  church  disappear  and  there  is  still  in  the 
Spirit  an  access  to  happiness.  And  there  is  also  an 
invitation,  from  the  Saviour  Himself,  Come  up  hither. 
Let  us  suppose  that  all  the  seven  angels  to  the  seven 
churches  are  silent,  then  He  still  speaks,  saying,  I  will 
shew  thee.  And  the  ocean  which  separates  us  from 
friends  and  country  becomes  a  sea  of  glass,  clear  as 
crystal,  on  which  we  can  walk  in  faith,  as  did  Peter, 
no  power  on  earth  preventing  us.  Surrounded  by  cir- 
cumstance, John  was  suddenly  as  free  as  the  airman 
to  soar  and  travel  where  he  was  led.  He  was  to  be 
taught  of  the  things  that  must  be  hereafter,  a  lesson 
that  has  been  in  all  times  perilous  to  the  saints.  For 
John,  it  was  safe  and  it  was  helpful  because  his  educa- 
tion began,  continued  and  ended  in  God  Himself.  John 
touches  events  and  dates,  but  in  events  and  dates,  he  is 
far  less  interested  than  he  is  in  the  Omnipotent  and  the 
Eternal,  who  determines  dates  and  events.  Many  and 
many  a  time  does  he  emerge  from  the  maelstroms  of 
history  in  order  to  witness  again  the  majesty  of  Him 
on  the  throne,  and  only  as  he  satisfied  himself  con- 
stantly that  God  was  really  in  His  heaven,  did  he  have 
faith  to  know  that  all's  right  with  the  world. 

The  Scars  of  Calvary. 

What  difference  does  it  make  to  the  sunrise  if  we 


64  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

have  our  revolutions  and  upheavals?  That  celestial 
glory  which  shone  so  clearly  around  John  was  radiant 
demonstration  that  God  had  not  abdicated.  Still  on 
the  throne  sat  the  supreme  Sovereign.  The  very  storms 
that  broke  across  the  sky,  the  lightning  and  the  thunder 
and  the  hail,  only  disclosed  the  rainbow  of  covenant, 
eternal  since  Noah.  Let  the  tempests  drift  slow  chaos 
across  the  Sun,  and  the  rainbow  of  covenant  was  still 
held  firm  in  its  ambit  by  the  chains  of  light  and  of  love. 
It  was  a  rainbow  of  emerald, — not  a  dark  Providence, 
but  a  surrounding  loveliness  to  common  life,  constant 
yet  beautiful. 

And  within  was  God  as  a  jasper  stone,  of  a  varied 
colour,  for  God  is  variously  seen  of  men,  but  flecked 
particularly  with  the  challenging  red  of  the  sardius,  red 
as  blood,  the  scars  of  Calvary  struck  upon  the  sky  it- 
self. At  first,  it  was  to  John  merely  a  sardius  stone, 
but  as  his  eyes  grew  accustomed  to  the  light,  he  saw 
that  what  had  seemed  to  him  a  streak  of  crimson  was 
in  the  midst  of  the  throne,  a  Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain. 
At  the  very  centre  of  all  the  power  and  the  glory  is  the 
love  that  dies. 

Even  those  churches  which  had  seemed  such  a  fail- 
ure,— even  they  added  to  the  landscape.  Knock  down 
the  lampstands,  overturn  the  monasteries,  sell  your 
sanctuary  to  the  highest  bidder,  and  there  still  burns 
before  the  throne  all  that  makes  a  church  worth  while, 
namely  the  sevenfold  Spirit  of  the  Eternal.  You  may 
destroy  religion  but  you  cannot  quench  that  Flame,  not 
even  in  blood.    Beyond  all  churches  reigns  the  Christ. 

The  Four  and  Twenty  Elders. 
And  with  Christ,  the  four  and  twenty  elders.    Or- 
ganizations may  fail,  but  great  men  endure.    Built  on 


SUNRISE  OYER  PATMOS  66 

Law,  Jerusalem  may  lie  as  desolate  as  Laodicea,  saved 
by  Grace,  but  Isaiah  of  Jerusalem  reigns  as  securely  as 
Paul  of  Laodicea.  Athens  may  decay,  but  Plato  and 
Socrates  are  immortal.  White  as  the  snow  that  caps 
the  mountains  are  the  robes  of  those  four  and  twenty 
elders,  and  golden  as  the  rays  that  touch  the  topmost 
peaks  are  the  crowns  of  authority  and  honour  that 
adorn  their  brows.  Let  Presbyterians  be  ever  so  luke- 
warm, they  cannot  dethrone  John  Kjiox.  Let  Quakers 
be  ever  so  worldly,  there  remains  George  Fox.  No  one 
has  displaced  Moses  and  Abraham  and  Elijah.  All  the 
good  in  man  that  has  ever  been  is  everlasting,  and 
throughout  the  Vision  those  elders  are  seen  at  intervals, 
sitting  serene  amid  world  upheavals,  until  all  are  ab- 
sorbed in  the  final  Democracy. 

The  Four  Beasts. 

So  much  for  the  Humanities.  But  around  the 
throne  of  God,  there  are  also  ranged  the  achievements 
of  Science.  This  our  God,  revealed  in  Christ  as  the 
Living  Word,  is  no  obscurantist,  surviving  in  the  twi- 
light of  ignorance  and  superstition.  His  audience 
chamber  is  guarded  by  living  creatures,  four  in  num- 
ber, equipped  with  eyes,  before  and  behind,  indeed  full 
of  eyes,  dissecting,  analyzing,  calculating,  photograph- 
ing, recording.  Such  eyes  are  the  microscope  for  the 
minute  and  the  telescope  for  the  distant  and  the  mys- 
terious rays  of  unseeable  light  whereby  the  metal  is  dis- 
covered within  the  rock  and  the  bone  of  man  and 
beast  within  the  garment  of  muscle.  Call  to  witness 
the  lion  in  his  strength,  or  the  calf  in  his  weakness  or 
the  man  with  his  intelligence  or  the  eagle  with  his 
movement,  and  all  will  render  praise  to  Him  Who 
created  all. 


m  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

That  John  remembered  the  vision  of  Isaiah  is  no 
fancy  of  mine.  It  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  he,  as  did 
Isaiah,  saw  the  living  creatures,  each  with  six  wings. 
Isaiah  tells  us  that,  with  twain,  he  covered  his  face, 
which  is  reverence ;  with  twain,  he  covered  his  feet, 
which  is  humility ;  and  with  twain,  he  did  fly,  which  is 
service.  Mere  activity  in  however  good  a  cause  is  not 
enough.  There  is  no  goodness  without  worship  of  the 
good  and  the  good  is  God.  The  song  of  the  seraphs 
which  Isaiah  heard  does  not  cease  as  centuries  roll  on. 
If  knowledge  grows  from  more  to  more,  it  only  means 
that  more  of  reverence  in  us  dwells.  Holy,  Holy,  Holy 
was  the  word  that  they  uttered  to  Isaiah.  And,  day 
and  night.  Holy,  Holy,  Holy  is  the  message  to  John. 
Not  with  Jesus  began  the  Trinity ;  all  that  God  is,  has 
been  eternal.  All  that  He  is.  He  ever  will  be.  As 
Father,  He  is  holy ;  as  Son,  He  is  holy ;  and  holy  is  He 
as  Spirit. 

In  such  a  Presence,  there  was  no  distinction  drawn 
between  those  four  and  twenty  elders.  It  was  not  for 
him  of  Rome  or  of  Lambeth  or  of  Geneva  to  claim  a 
preeminence.  Confronted  by  the  calm  verdict  of  Sci- 
ence, the  whole  hierarchy  of  learning  and  priesthood 
was  humbled,  and  forgetting  the  dignity  of  rank  and 
reputation,  cast  the  crowns  and  themselves,  whatever 
men  thought  of  them  and  whatever  they  were,  before 
the  Creator  of  All,  saying,  Thou  art  zuorthy — for  Thy 
pleasure  were  all  things  made.  In  the  pursuit  of  that 
natural  law,  which  is  the  pleasure  of  the  Almighty, 
lies  the  true  pursuit  of  pleasure  for  man  himself ;  and 
disobedience  is  the  prelude  to  pain. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  GLORY  OF  THE  LAMB 


AND  I  saw  in  the  right  hand  of  him  that  sat  on  the 
throne  a  book  written  within  and  on  the  backside, 
sealed  with  seven  seals. 

And  I  saw  a  strong  angel  proclaiming  with  a  loud  voice, 
Who  is  worthy  to  open  the  book,  and  to  loose  the  seals 
thereof  ? 

And  no  man  in  heaven,  nor  in  earth,  neither  under  the 
earth,  was  able  to  open  the  book,  neither  to  look  thereon. 

And  I  wept  much,  because  no  man  was  found  worthy 
to  open  and  to  read  the  book,  neither  to  look  thereon. 

And  one  of  the  elders  saith  unto  me,  Weep  not :  behold, 
the  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Juda,  the  Root  of  David,  hath  pre- 
vailed to  open  the  book,  and  to  loose  the  seven  seals 
thereof. 

And  I  beheld,  and,  lo,  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  and  of 
the  four  beasts,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  elders,  stood  a 
Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain,  having  seven  horns  and  seven 
eyes,  which  are  the  seven  Spirits  of  God  sent  forth  into 
all  the  earth. 

And  he  came  and  took  the  book  out  of  the  right  hand 
of  him  that  sat  upon  the  throne. 

And  when  he  had  taken  the  book,  the  four  beasts  and 
four  and  twenty  elders  fell  dov/n  before  the  Lamb,  hav- 
ing every  one  of  them  harps,  and  golden  vials  full  of 
odours,  which  are  the  prayers  of  saints. 

And  they  sung  a  new  song,  saying.  Thou  art  worthy  to 
take  the  book,  and  to  open  the  seals  thereof :  for  thou  wast 
slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy  blood  out  of 
every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation; 

And  hast  made  us  unto  our  God  kings  and  priests :  and 
we  shall  reign  on  the  earth. 

And  I  beheld,  and  I  heard  the  voice  of  many  angels 
round  about  the  throne  and  the  beasts  and  the  elders: 
and  the  number  of  them  was  ten  thousand  times  ten 
thousand,  and  thousands  of  thousands; 

Saying  with  a  loud  voice,  Worthy  is  the  Larnb  that  was 
slain  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and 
strength,  and  honour,  and  glory,  and  blessing. 

And  every  creature  which  is  in  heaven,  and  on  the 
earth,  and  under  the  earth,  and  such  as  are  in  the  sea, 
and  all  that  are  in  them,  heard  I  saying.  Blessing,^  and 
honour,  and  glory,  and  power,  be  unto  him  that  sitteth 
upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever. 

And  the  four  beasts  said,  Amen.  And  the  four  and 
twenty  elders  fell  down  and  worshipped  him  that  liveth 
for  ever  and  ever. 

— REVEi<A'riON  5 : 1-14. 


VI 
THE  GLORY  OF  THE  LAMB 

IN  the  worship  of  God  as  Creator,  there  was  nothing 
new ;  Job  so  worshipped  in  his  day  and  the  Psalm- 
ists also.  For  John  of  Patmos,  it  was  a  splendid  wor- 
ship,— this  glory  of  landscape,  wonder  of  astronomy, 
miracle  of  the  electric  laws  and  magic  of  the  chemist 
— but  it  left  him  still  a  lonely  old  man.  Science  and 
the  Humanities  did  assuredly  say  thrice  holy,  but  it 
was  said  not  sung;  it  was  prose  not  poetry,  acoustics 
not  music ;  optics  not  painting ;  anatomy  not  the  dance 
and  the  game.  Human  life  is  a  Book  which  Science,  as 
four  living  creatures,  and  the  Scholars,  with  their  four 
and  twenty  thrones,  dare  not  open.  The  greatest  of 
them  yearn  for  Something  or  Someone  beyond  their 
ken.  Having  negatived  Calvary,  they  make  their  pil- 
grimages to-day  to  the  long  deserted  caves  of  Endor. 
The  disciples  of  Huxley  travel  from  Faith,  through 
Reason,  to  Spiritualism. 

Science  tells  us  why  the  salmon  leaps  and  the  light- 
ning flames  but  we  also  want  to  know  why  wars  are 
waged  and  why  the  poor  are  robbed.  The  annals  of 
mankind  are  written,  moment  by  moment,  in  a  Book 
which  remains  for  mankind  ever  closed.  On  the 
covers,  historians  and  journalists  have  inscribed  their 
shallow  jottings,  but  the  story  of  man  is  a  story  that 
man  dare  not  tell.     By  his  censorships  and  reticences  is 

69 


70  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

he  condemned.  His  records  are  sealed  with  the  seven 
seals  of  the  deadly  sins,  pride  and  hypocrisy  and  mal- 
ice ;  and  even  a  strong  angel,  proclaiming  with  a  loud 
voice,  cannot  find  one  personage  worthy  to  open  that 
book  and  break  the  seals  thereof.  No  one  is  a  hero  to 
his  valet.  Every  one  has  something  for  which  to 
blush.  The  man  in  heaven,  the  idealist,  dare  not  face 
the  truth.  The  man  on  earth,  the  realist,  dare  not 
face  it.  The  man  under  the  earth,  the  pessimist,  is 
no  less  a  coward.  There  is  none  righteous,  no  not  one, 
for  all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God. 

Man's  History  Book. 

Overwrought  with  the  mystery  of  life,  John  wept 
much,  nor  was  he  ashamed,  for  he  had  seen  Jesus  Him- 
self also  weep.  Here  was  a  Book  in  God's  right  hand 
—suppose  that  God  should  open  it  and  find  therein  that 
which  could  not  be  pardoned.  John's  certainly  was 
sorrow,  but  it  was  not  cynicism,  it  was  not  suicide,  it 
was  not  satire,  it  was  not  vice  and  indulgence.  In 
Christ  he  was  saved,  even  from  himself,  and  could 
resort  to  the  natural  and  ordained  expression  of  his 
sadness,  to  tears  that  were  salt,  not  envenomed.  His 
was  a  cry  for  comfort  and  help,  not  for  vengeance, 
not  for  reprisals.  He  mourned,  but  he  did  not  blas- 
pheme, nor  develop  a  grievance  against  God. 

It  was  not  one  of  the  four  beasts  that  pointed  John 
to  Christ.  It  was  not  Science  that  consoled  him.  It 
was  not  in  Algebra  and  Zoology  that  he  found  com- 
fort. It  was  one  of  the  elders  who  said.  Weep  not — 
a  man  who  had  himself  known  sorrow,  who  had 
walked  that  way  before. 

He  understood  John's  trouble.  Here  was  Jeru- 
salem laid  waste,  the  temple  burnt,  Galilee  ravaged, 


THE  GLOKY  OF  THE  LAMB  71 

synagogues  shattered,  churches  decaying.  What  about 
this  religion  that  one  learnt  at  one's  mother's  knee? 
Could  it  read  the  Book  of  Life  or  not?  Was  it  an 
answer  or  itself  merely  another  riddle?  It  was  no 
use  for  the  elder  to  say  to  John  that  a  new  faith  had 
arisen.  John  was  too  aged  for  new  faiths.  It  was 
for  him  the  old  faith  or  nothing.  It  was  not  to  the 
Christ  of  Athens,  of  Ephesus,  of  Rome,  that  he  was 
referred  by  the  elder.  It  was  to  the  Lion  of  the  Tribe 
of  Judah,  the  Root  of  David — the  Christ  with  Whom 
he  had  been  familiar  as  a  boy — the  Christ  of  Little 
Bethel — of  the  Sunday  school — of  the  hymn  book. 
His  arm  was  not  shortened  that  it  could  not  save. 

The  Lamb  Who  Died. 

There  stood  the  Roman  Empire,  dominant,  pagan, 
and  triumphant  over  Jerusalem,  yet  the  Lion  of  that 
little  tribe  had  prevailed.  Extinct  seemed  the  dynasty 
of  David,  but  the  Root  of  Faith  that  was  in  him, 
though  hidden  in  soil  and  despised  and  trampled  down, 
had  prevailed.  For  as  John  gazed  on  the  majesty  of 
God,  his  eyes  became  accustomed  to  that  Light  of 
Lights,  and  what  at  first  had  seemed  to  him  a  fleck  of 
crimson  sardius  across  the  sunset  proved  now  to  be  a 
Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain.  At  the  very  seat  of  supreme 
authority  lay  the  love  that  suffers  for  others.  In  the 
midst  of  Science  and  the  Humanities,  nearer  to  God 
than  even  they  can  ever  be,  lives  the  Christ  Who  died. 
In  Apollo,  Greece  deified  the  athlete,  the  young  man 
and  maiden  who  rejoice  in  health  and  beauty,  in  run- 
ning and  leaping,  in  the  games  and  races  and  bouts  of 
Corinth.  It  was  that  admiration  by  man  for  man  that 
differs  little  from  man's  admiration  for  his  yacht  or  his 
horse.    In  Christ,  Apollo  was  crucified.    The  Man  that 


T2  THE  VISIOJSr  WE  FOKGET 

Old  Rome  needed  was  the  Man  Who  Failed.  There 
is  more  comfort  in  Gethsemane  than  in  Eden. 

For  that  Lamb,  there  were  seven  horns  and  seven 
eyes — perfect  power  based  on  perfect  knowledge.  It 
was  a  power  so  varied  that  it  could  drive  a  cargo  of 
wheat  to  areas,  stricken  with  famine,  yet  so  delicate 
that  it  could  touch  a  diseased  tissue  with  surgeon's 
steel.  And  the  knowledge  was  as  varied.  It  was  a 
Spirit  going  forth  into  all  the  earth  and  searching  the 
very  souls  of  men.  It  was  that  Presence  which  wrung 
from  Hagar  in  the  desert — an  ignorant  and  sadly 
wronged  servant,  the  cry  that  has  echoed  through  the 
ages,  Thou  God  Seest  Me. 

To  know  all  is  to  forgive  all,  and  having  suffered 
all,  Christ  could  come  forward  and,  without  a  tremor, 
take  the  Book, — take  it  even  from  Him  Who  sits  on 
the  Throne — and  hold  its  every  secret  in  His  pierced 
hand.  Here  was  a  knowledge,  more  intimate  than 
science  and  learning;  and  a  new  worship  was  evoked, 
not  this  time,  of  the  Creator,  Who  made  all  things,  but 
of  the  Redeemer,  Who  can  pardon  and  restore  all 
things.  It  was  before  the  Lamb  that  the  four  beasts 
and  four  and  twenty  elders  fell  down.  He  was  the  se- 
cret of  life,  and  in  His  love  there  began  to  be  music. 
For  His  praise.  Science  designed  the  harp  and  Learn- 
ing composed  the  anthem.  In  prayer  to  Him,  Industry 
fashioned  the  vials  and  Religion  filled  them  with 
odours.  Men  who  thus  adored  Him  became  more 
than  they  had  been.  Without  Him,  they  were  mer- 
chants, wage  earners,  capitalists,  lawyers,  doctors. 
But  in  Him,  they  were  saints. 

The  Harps  and  Vials. 

The  harps  and  vials  were  only  accompaniments  to 


THE  GLOEY  OF  THE  LAMB  73 

the  new  song.  Praise  must  be  personal  as  well  as  in- 
strumental. It  was  as  yet  a  small  and  a  select  con- 
gregation. Christ  had  appealed  to  the  best  first  and 
they  were  few,  only  twenty-eight  in  all.  The  crowd 
were  as  yet  indifferent.  But  these  few  were  of  every 
tongue,  kindred,  race  and  nation*  There  was  no  privi- 
lege for  Jew  over  Gentile,  for  European  over  Asiatic, 
for  White  over  Coloured,  for  class  over  class.  Unto 
God,  they  were  made  what  by  birth  they  were  not, — 
kings  and  priests,  destined  to  reign  on  the  earth,  in 
things  temporal  and  spiritual. 

It  was  those  few  elders  who,  out  of  their  human 
experience,  led  the  tens  of  thousands  of  angels  who 
had  never  fallen  and  had  to  seek  redemption.  These 
saw  the  death  of  Christ  as  an  act,  in  itself  most  won- 
derful, but  not  personal  to  themselves.  That,  too,  was 
the  praise  rendered  by  the  animal  creation,  whether  in 
heaven,  on  earth,  under  the  earth  or  in  the  sea.  For 
such,  it  was  enough  that  Christ  was  in  God,  their  Cre- 
ator. Amen,  so  be  it,  was  the  response  of  Science; 
Christ  did  create  us;  and  the  four  and  twenty  elders, 
added,  what  was  to  them  the  supreme  fact  of  all,  that 
He,  thus  slain,  liveth  for  ever  and  ever. 


\ 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  FOUR  HORSES  OF 
THE  APOCALYPSE 


AND  I  saw  when  the  I^amb  opened  one  of  the  seals, 
and  I  heard,  as  it  were  the  noise  of  thunder,  one  of 
the  four  beasts  saying,  Come  and  see. 

Artd  I  saw,  and  behold  a  white  horse:  and  he  that  sat 
on  him  had  a  bow ;  and  a  crown  was  given  unto  him :  and 
he  went  forth  conquering,  and  to  conquer. 

And  when  he  had  opened  the  second  seal,  I  heard  the 
second  beast  say.  Come  and  see. 

And  there  went  out  another  hors^  that  was  red :  and 
power  was  given  to  him  that  sat  thereon  to  take  peace  from 
the  earth,  and  that  they  should  kill  one  another :  and  there 
was  given  unto  him  a  great  sword. 

And  when  he  had  opened  the  third  seal,  I  heard  the 
third  beast  say,  Come  and  see.  And  I  beheld,  and  lo  a 
black  horse ;  and  he  that  sat  on  him  had  a  pair  of  balances 
in  his  hand. 

And  I  heard  a  voice  in  the  midst  of  the  four  beasts  say, 
A  measure  of  wheat  for  a  penny,  and  three  measures  of 
barley  for  a  penny;  and  see  thou  hurt  not  the  oil  and  the 
wine. 

And  when  he  had  opened  the  fourth  seal,  I  heard  the 
voice  of  the  fourth  beast  say,  Come  and  see. 

And  I  looked,  and  behold  a  pale  horse:  and  his  name 
that  sat  on  him  was  Death,  and  Hell  followed  with  him. 
And  power  was  given  unto  them  over  the  fourth  part  of 
the  earth,  to  kill  with  sword,  and  with  hunger,  and  with 
death,  and  with  the  beasts  of  the  earth. 

And  when  he  had  opened  the  fifth  seal,  I  saw  under  the 
altar  the  souls  of  them  that  were  slain  for  the  word  of 
God,  and  for  the  testimony  which  they  held: 

And  they  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying,  How  long, 
O  Lord,  holy  and  true,  dost  thou  not  judge  and  avenge  our 
blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth? 

— REVEI.ATI0N  6 : 1-17. 


VII 
THE  FOUR  HORSES  OF  THE  APOCALYPSE 

HAVING  faced  God  and  found  in  the  Lamb  slain 
an  answer  to  evil,  John  was  now  ready  to  face 
life.  Unless  he  thus  faced  life,  with  all  the  evil  that 
there  is  in  life,  he  could  not  hope  to  enter  the  City  of 
God.  From  this  point  onwards,  he  is  a  crusader  who 
goes  forth,  once,  twice,  thrice,  to  conquer  the  New 
Jerusalem,  and  only  on  the  third  attempt,  succeeds. 
First,  John  thought  of  life  merely  as  the  breaking  of 
seals,  as  a  series  of  facts,  dates,  events.  It  is  thus  that 
children  learn  history,  asking  what  in  the  story  comes 
next.  But  this  enquiry  ended  in  nothing.  Second, 
John  thought  of  life  as  the  blowing  of  trumpets — as 
the  cause  before  the  effect — as  the  impulse  which  pro- 
duced the  result — as  the  warning  that  preceded  the 
deed.     But  this,  again,  left  him  far  from  the  city. 

Thirdly,  he  realized  that  life  is  judgment — retribu- 
tion— the  deliberate  outpouring  of  vials — that  God 
also  has  something  to  say  about  life.  And  it  was  thus 
that  John  found  at  last  how  in  righteousness  must 
society  be  reorganized.  This,  then,  is  the  threefold 
plan  of  the  Apocalypse,  in  so  far  as  the  book  conducts 
us  from  the  vision  of  God  on  His  Throne  to  the  ulti- 
mate vision  of  God's  Kingdom  perfected  in  heaven 
and  on  earth. 

It  is  the  hand  of  Christ  Himself  that  breaks  these 
seals  and  liberates  the  truth.  To  the  conquests  and 
campaigns  of  monarchs  and  nations,  to  their  persecu- 
tions and  projects,  there  is  to  be  applied  a  new  test. 

77 


78  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

Bloodshed  is  to  be  examined  by  one  whose  blood  was 
shed.    Passion  is  to  be  tried  by  peace  and  hate  by  love. 

The  Symbols  of  War. 

Take  these  four  horses  which  appear  with  a  noise 
of  thunder.  The  Living  Creatures  themselves  say  to 
us  "  Come  and  See."  About  these  horses  there  is  noth- 
ing particularly  pious  or  theological.  It  is  not  in 
churches  alone  that  you  hear  their  thunder.  The 
Horses  fill  the  history  books  and  the  newspapers. 
They  mean  in  one  word — War.  And  our  first  notion 
of  history  is  just  a  series  of  battles  and  sieges.  Come 
then  and  see  war  as  war  actually  is. 

Any  one  who  knows  even  a  little  about  the  Old 
Testament  can  understand  these  horses.  In  the  prom- 
ised land,  the  beast  of  burden  and  commerce  was  either 
a  camel,  or  an  ass.  It  was  upon  an  ass  that  Our  Lord, 
as  Prince  of  Peace,  rode  into  Jerusalem.  In  the  in- 
ventory of  Job's  wealth  horses  are  not  included,  and 
the  same  is  true,  I  think,  of  Abraham.  Horses  meant 
not  wealth  and  happiness  and  blessing  but  the  curse  of 
militarism, — the  burden  of  chariots,  the  despotism  of 
Egypt,  the  aggression  of  Assyria  and  Babylon.  When 
Jehu  led  a  rebellion,  he  gathered  horsemen,  mounted  a 
chariot  and  drove  furiously.  While  the  oxen  of  Elisha 
were  ploughing,  it  was  for  the  battle  that  horses 
neighed  and  spread  their  nostrils.  Look  at  your  eques- 
trian statues — in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  it  i^».a  soldier 
who  sits  in  the  saddle. 

I.     Conquest. 

The  first  horse  is  white — so  attractive — ^how  the 
crowds  cheered  for  that  white  horse !  The  rider  was 
armed  with  a  bow — a  weapon  that  slays  at  a  distance 


THE  FOUR  HORSES  OF  THE  APOCALYPSE  Y9 

— across  the  seas — over  the  frontier — nach  Paris! 
The  multitudes  did  not  think  that  the  glorious  war 
would  come  home  to  them.  The  Kaiser  was  wearing 
a  crown.  His  war  was  a  dynastic  necessity.  Mon- 
archs  must  go  forth  conquering  and  to  conquer. 

II.  Slaughter. 

The  second  seal  is  opened — opened  by  the  pierced 
hand  of  Christ — and  there  is  a  horse  of  another  colour. 
The  horse  is  now  red — villages  are  burning.  The  sky 
is  aflame.  And  men  find  that  peace  has  been  taken 
from  the  earth — that  they  are  killing  one  another — 
not  by  bow  and  arrow,  at  a  distance — but  at  close 
quarters,  with  a  great  sword.  Casualty  lists  are 
lengthening  and  war  is  disclosed  as  simple  slaughter. 

III.  Food  Rations. 

The  third  seal  is  opened,  and  red  war  turns  black. 
It  is  black  mourning,  black  despair  and  above  all  black 
famine.  The  black  horse  is  ridden  by  a  food  dictator, 
with  a  pair  of  balances  in  his  hand.  Peoples  are  ra- 
tioned. Prices  are  fixed.  A  measure  of  zvheat  for  a 
penny — three  measures  of  barley  for  a  penny — and  see 
there  is  no  waste  of  oil  and  wine.  It  is  the  siege  of 
Samaria,  on  an  international  scale. 

IV.  Famine. 

And  theiji  comes  the  pale  horse, — ^the  world-wide  dis- 
illusionment— seen  in  the  bare  dawn  of  a  desolate  day. 
Death  is  the  rider  who  has  conquered — and  Hell  which 
means  sorrow  and  misery  is  his  aide-de-camp.  He 
goes  on  killing — sometimes  with  the  sword — some- 
times with  hunger — sometimes  with  simple  death — 
that  is,  with  typhus  and  cholera  and  enteric.     And 


80  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

beasts  are  let  loose  on  the  helpless — crime  and  lust 
and  violence — the  dogs  of  war. 

The  Hospitals  of  Heaven* 

With  the  opening  of  the  fifth  seal,  we  find  that 
heaven  is  at  first  only  a  hospital.  The  one  sanctuary 
from  utter  wrong  was  that  altar,  beneath  which  hud- 
dled those  few  survivors,  with  no  language  as  yet  but 
a  cry,  How  Long?  If  God  is  holy  and  true,  why  does 
He  not  avenge  our  blood  ?  Guns  and  poison  gas — just 
so !  But  how  about  shattered  babies,  ruined  maidens, 
maddened  fathers,  lunatic  mothers?  Statesmen  with 
your  four  seals,  do  you  think  you  will  escape  the  fifth  ? 
John  tells  you  that,  in  Christ,  for  the  first  time,  those 
whom  you  oppress  and  slaughter  in  pursuance  of  your 
schemes  are  given  a  voice — a  loud  voice — to  which, 
statesmen,  you  must  listen.  Silent,  the  fourth  part  of 
mankind  may  perish  of  your  folly,  but  these,  in  whom 
is  Christ's  testimony,  cannot  be  silenced. 

For  persons  demanding  revenge,  the  Almighty  has 
at  the  moment  no  use.  Before  they  can  sing  the  new 
song  and  build  the  new  city,  they  must  first  rest,  and 
so  learn  the  peace  that  passeth  all  understanding.  In- 
deed, they  needed  the  white  robe — it  was  not  theirs  by 
natture — it  had  to  be  given  them — the  mere  fact  that 
they  had  been  wronged  by  man  did  not  mean  that  they 
were  right  with  God.  An  Armenian  may  be  cruelly 
persecuted  without  telling  the  truth  to  his  fellow  Ar- 
menian. It  is  a  profound  corollary  of  atonement  that 
sacrifices  made  by  us  are  not  enough  without  the  sacri- 
fice made  by  Christ. 

The  Next  War. 

Men  talk  lightly  of  the  next  war.     In  His  love. 


THE  FOUK  HOKSES  OF  THE  APOCALYPSE  81 

Christ  breaks  the  Sixth  Seal  and  shows  us  what  the 
next  war  will  be.  National  defence  and  so  on !  Rub- 
bish. The  next  war  will  be  ''  a  great  earthquake." 
Where  millions  of  men  and  women  thus  strive,  the 
very  sun  will  be  darkened  by  the  smoke  of  the  conflict 
and  the  moon  will  be  fired  by  the  flame.  As  stars 
from  heaven,  so  will  projectiles  rain  on  the  lands, 
dropped  like  unripe  figs  in  a  hurricane.  As  a  scroll 
that  is  rolled  up,  so  will  civilization  disappear  in  the 
catastrophe,  and  every  mountain,  whether  of  wealth  or 
privilege — every  island,  be  it  remote  by  thousands  of 
miles,  will  be  moved  from  its  place  on  the  maps  of 
mankind.  All  classes  will  find  a  common  level  and 
that  will  be  underground.  In  dens  and  rocks  of  the 
mountains — in  cellars  and  dugouts  and  trenches, — 
kings  and  great  men, — what  irony  in  those  words! — 
and  rich  men  and  chief  captains,  and  mighty  men  and 
every  bondman  and  every  freeman,  will  hide  them- 
selves in  one  common  terror  of  remorse.  Better,  the); 
will  say,  that  the  mountains  fall  on  us,  that  rocks  crush 
out  our  lives,  than  that,  having  made  the  next  war,  we 
face  God  on  His  Throne  and  the  wrath — the  anger, 
note  that  word — of  the  Lamb.  For  if  the  next  war 
comes,  it  will  be,  in  very  truth,  the  great  day  of  God's 
indignation. 

There  was  still  one  seal  to  be  broken — the  seventh — 
and  as  the  pierced  hand  thus  opened  the  Book,  there 
was  silence  in  heaven  for  half  an  hour.  The  record 
struck  heaven  dumb.  Elders  and  beasts,  angels  and 
archangels  were  speechless  and  God  Himself  sat  still. 
Events,  as  such,  offered  no  solution  of  life's  drama. 
Motives  had  to  be  analyzed — the  heart  that  hates  as 
well  as  the  mailed  fist  that  strikes. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  REPUBLIC  OF  PEACE 


AND  after  these  things  I  saw  four  angels  standing 
on  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  holding  the  four 
winds  of  the  earth,  that  the  wind  should  not  blow  on 
the  earth,  nor  on  the  sea,  nor  on  any  tree. 

And  I  saw  another  angel  ascending  from  the  east,  hav- 
ing the  seal  of  the  living  God:  and  he  cried  with  a  loud 
voice  to  the  four  angels,  to  v*^hom  it  was  given  to  hurt  the 
earth  and  the  sea, 

Saying,  Hurt  not  the  earth,  neither  the  sea,  nor  the  trees, 
till  we  have  sealed  the  servants  of  our  God  in  their  fore- 
heads. 

And  I  heard  the  number  of  them  which  were  sealed: 
and   there  zcere   sealed  an  hundred  and   forty  and   four 
thousand  of  all  the  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel. 
******* 

After  this  I  beheld,  and,  lo,  a  great  multitude,  which  no 
man  could  number,  of  all  nations,  and  kindreds,  and 
people,  and  tongues,  stood  before  the  throne,  and  before 
the  Lamb,  clothed  with  white  robes,  and  palms  in  their 
hands ; 

And  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying,  Salvation  to  our 
God  which  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb. 

And  all  the  angels  stood  round  about  the  throne,  and 
about  the  elders  and  the  four  beasts,  and  fell  before  the 
throne  on  their  faces,  and  worshipped  God, 

Saying,  Amen :  Blessing,  and  glory,  and  wisdom,  and 
thanksgiving,  and  honour,  and  power,  and  might,  be  unto 
our  God  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 

And  one  of  the  elders  answered,  saying  unto  me.  What 
are  these  which  are  arrayed  in  white  robes?  and  whence 
came  they? 

And  I  said  unto  him,  Sir,  thou  knowest.  And  he  said 
to  me,  These  are  they  which  came  out  of  great  tribulation, 
and  have  washed  their  robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb. 

Therefore  are  they  before  the  throne  of  God,  and  serve 
him  day  and  night  in  his  temple:  and  he  that  sitteth  on 
the  throne  shall  dwell  among  them. 

They  shall  hunger  no  more,  neither  thirst  any  more; 
neither  shall  the  sun  light  on  them,  nor  any  heat. 

For  the  Lamb,  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne,  shall 
feed  them,  and  shall  lead  them  unto  living  fountains  of 
waters :  and  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes. 

--REVEI.ATION  7 :  1-17. 


VIII 
THE  REPUBLIC  OF  PEACE 

AWAKENING  from  such  nightmare  of  slaughter, 
John's  first  idea  of  human  well-being  was,  sim- 
ply, peace.  He  dreamed  of  four  angels,  standing  at 
the  corners  of  the  earth  and  holding  back  the  tornadoes 
of  human  passion,  which  otherwise  would  sweep  in 
hurricanes  over  land  and  sea.  North,  south,  east  and 
west,  our  stricken  race  sighed  for  mere  tranquillity. 
At  least,  let  the  trees  grow  again — those  trees  which 
symbolized  human  institutions — churches,  for  instance, 
or  schools,  or  industries.  Land  and  sea — meaning 
civilized  and  barbaric,  Christian  and  heathen  peoples — 
joined  in  the  yearning,  just  to  be  let  alone.  And  the 
universal  prayer  was  granted.  A  treaty  was  signed. 
A  league  of  nations  was  arranged. 

Peace,  for  a  spell,  meant  for  most  of  them,  doubt- 
less, no  more  than  a  chance  of  prosperity.  John,  how- 
ever, says  not  a  word  here  of  material  advance.  To 
him,  it  seemed  that  such  truce  of  God — such  interval 
between  world  wars — was  given  as  a  test.  Suppose 
that  there  is  such  peace — what  use  will  people  make  of 
it  ?  On  how  many  foreheads  will  there  be  visible  the 
seal  of  God's  service?  Will  universal  calm  mean  uni- 
versal piety?  Not  yet.  For  the  moment,  there  is 
only  a  spiritual  minority.  A  disciple  of  Jesus  looks 
different  from  the  average.     You  can  count  him  in 

85 


86  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

your  census — a  company  of  twelve  times  twelve  thou* 
sand — an  ascertainable  statistic. 

Recruits  for  the  Christ. 

Yet  it  is  also  true  that,  since  John  first  looked  into 
heaven,  the  cause  of  Christ  has  prospered.  Then, 
among  elders  and  angels,  he  found  himself  alone 
save  for  the  small  but  highly  trained  choir  that 
praised  the  Almighty.  But  there  are  now  gathered  in 
those  regions  of  happiness,  not  elders  only,  but  the 
common  folk,  all  the  tempted  brotherhood  of  Jacob, 
sons  that  had  sinned  yet  received  the  seal  of  pardon. 
As  well  as  he  could  remember  those  names,  John  gave 
them,  each  name  signifying  a  type,  a  profession,  a 
racial  characteristic,  yet  each  type  equally  represented 
by  twelve  thousand  among  the  sealed,  showing  that  by 
all  men,  of  every  tribe,  may  true  service  be  rendered, 
if  men  so  will  it.  Amid  war  and  famine  and  despair, 
the  silent  consecration  of  such  people  proceeds,  unno- 
ticed as  the  leaven  in  meal.  We  approach  the  Christ 
as  individuals  and  find  ourselves  in  a  multitude. 

For  as  John  looked  further,  he  became  less  and  less 
assured  that  he  could  tell  truly  the  number  of  the 
saints.  There  were  so  many  on  whose  foreheads  God 
alone  could  detect  the  seal.  There  were  unsuspected 
followers  of  the  Christ  who  did  not  fall  into  any 
known  categories.  They  were  not  of  Judah,  nor  of 
Zebulon — they  were  neither  Catholic  nor  Protestant — 
neither  Baptist  nor  Episcopalian,  yet  somehow  they 
were  Christ's.  You  could  be  assured  of  this  because 
they  stood  before  the  throne,  acknowledging  God's  au- 
thority, and  before  the  Lamb,  worshipping  the  Re- 
deemer. You  could  tell  this  because  their  robes  were 
white  and  unspotted,  while  in  their  hands  were  no  in- 


THE  EEPUBLIC  OF  PEACE  87 

struments  of  cruelty, — no  sword,  no  bow,  no  scourge 
and  no  sceptre  or  crozier  of  authority — but  the  palm, 
the  symbol  of  democratic  praise.  Where  elders  and 
angels  had  served  as  choir,  they  now  stood  as  audience. 
It  was  the  common  folk  who  sang  in  that  loud  voice. 
It  was  a  song,  no  longer  of  vengeance,  but  of  salvation. 
They  had  suffered  not  less  than  the  martyrs,  but  they 
prayed  only  that  all  men — even  their  persecutors — be 
saved.  Even  among  Christians  was  Christ's  Spirit 
prevailing. 

Their  White  Robes. 

The  scene  which  here  confronted  St.  John  the 
Divine  recalls  the  splendid  if  heartless  pageantry  of 
the  Roman  amphitheatre.  Martyrs,  whose  blood  had 
stained  the  arena,  rose  from  the  very  dust  and  were 
found  triumphing  amid  "  so  great  a  cloud  of  wit- 
nesses "  that  the  evangelist  was  unable  to  enumerate 
their  ranks.  Such  was  the  panorama  of  salvation, 
rendered  as  a  spectacle;  such  was  the  ceremonial  of  re- 
demption ;  as  armies  are  reviewed  by  emperors,  so  does 
the  company  of  heaven  salute  God.  But  the  saints  in 
glory  are  individuals,  each  with  a  personal  history,  and 
every  one  of  them  known  by  name  to  Him  Who  was 
slain  for  all.  To  regard  the  Church  as  a  perpetual  pub- 
lic meeting  is  not  enough.  We  must  ask  whence  came 
the  great  congregation.  Who  are  they  ?  In  what  homes 
and  what  life  did  they  live?  You  would  have  said 
that  no  one  in  his  day  was  better  able  to  answer  such 
questions  than  John,  but  when  the  elder  invited  a  reply, 
the  apostle  could  only  exclaim — Sir,  thou  knowest. 
It  was  the  white  robe  that  had  become  so  effective  a 
disguise.  In  a  world  where  imperial  purple  and  car- 
dinal's red  and  Islamic  green, — where  gold  and  silver; 


88  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

braid  and  jewelled  decorations  were  to  distinguish  the 
favoured  few  from  the  forgotten  multitude,  here  was 
a  new  order  of  chivalry,  equal  for  men  and  for  women, 
for  old  and  for  young,  for  rich  and  for  poor, — the 
order  of  the  pure  in  heart,  who  see  God.  Not  always 
had  the  robes  been  thus  white.  In  humble  penitence, 
these  people  had  washed  their  robes — to  quote  a  phrase 
as  daring  as  it  was  once  familiar — in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb.  Unashamed  therefore  and  with  consciences 
at  ease,  they  stood  in  the  very  presence  of  Him  Who 
judges  the  quick  and  the  dead.  They  also  serve,  says 
Milton,  who  only  stand  and  wait,  and  day  and  night, 
these  saints  were  serving.  If  a  new  city  was  rising 
from  its  foundations,  it  was  because  in  the  court  of 
Him  Who  ever  creates  there  were  no  idlers. 

The  Great  Tribulation. 

Some  men  and  some  nations  are  dominated  by 
memory  of  past  wrongs.  Their  wounds  never  heal. 
But  happiness  is  impossible  unless  we  come  out  of 
great  tribulation,  or  "  trouble,"  for  that  is  our  usual 
word.  Even  resentment  must  be  left  behind.  We 
must  surrender  the  impulse  to  revenge  and  replace  it 
by  the  will  to  assist.  At  the  moment,  it  is  service  in 
a  temple.  The  day  had  not  yet  dawned  when  there 
shall  be  a  city  where  no  temple  is  needed.  The  saints 
must  still  serve  God  in  institutions,  in  churches  and 
chapels  and  missions,  of  limited  scope,  and  so  must  it 
be  until  the  whole  world  is  a  temple. 

In  telling  us  that  the  saints  shall  hunger  no  more, 
neither  thirst  any  more,  that  the  sun  shall  not  light  on 
them  nor  any  heat,  that  the  Lamb  shall  feed  them  and 
lead  them  to  fountains  of  living  waters,  and  that  God 
shall  wipe  all  tears  from  their  eyes,  the  visionary  was 


THE  EEPUBLIC  OF  PEACE  89 

quoting  the  very  words  of  Isaiah.  It  was  plagiarism, 
evident  and  proven,  but  that  is  just  where  the  value 
of  it  lies.  When  Isaiah  first  wrote  thus  of  God's  care, 
you  might  have  said  that  it  was  a  pretty  and  poetic 
thought.  But  when  John  repeated  the  pretty  and 
poetic  thought,  it  had  stood  the  test  of  time,  of  ex- 
perience, of  unmeasured  anguish  and  sorrow.  John 
himself  was  old  and  poor,  but  even  he  knew  that  God's 
care  had  not  failed.  And  he  laid  down  principles 
which  have  been  seldom  obeyed,  except  where  God  is 
employer.  Here  was  no  attempt,  under  the  stimulus 
of  hunger  and  thirst,  to  make  men  serve.  Here  was 
One  Who  knew  that  men  serve  best  who  are  relieved 
from  hunger  and  thirst  and  the  scorching  sun, — who 
are  fed  and  who  work  under  the  best  conditions  of 
body  and  mind — that  real  service  must  be  perfect  free- 
dom. And  if  that  be  God's  will  in  heaven,  it  should 
clearly  be  done  on  earth. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  TRUMPETS  SOUND 


AND  when  he  had  opened  the  seventh  seal,  there  was 
silence  in  heaven  about  the  space  of  half  an  hour. 
And  I  saw  the  seven  angels  which  stood  before 
God;  and  to  them  were  given  seven  trumpets. 

And  another  angel  came  and  stood  at  the  altar,  having 
a  golden  censer;  and  there  was  given  unto  him  much  in- 
cense, that  he  should  offer  it  with  the  prayers  of  all 
saints  upon  the  golden  altar  which  was  before  the  throne. 
And  the  smoke  of  the  incense,  which  came  with  the 
prayers  of  the  saints,  ascended  up  before  God  out  of  the 
angel's  hand. 

And  the  angel  took  the  censer,  and  filled  it  with  fire  of 
the  altar,  and  cast  it  into  the  earth :  and  there  were  voices, 
and  thunderings,  and  lightnings,  and  an  earthquake. 

And  the  seven  angels  which  had  the  seven  trumpets  pre- 
pared themselves  to  sound. 

— Revei,ation  8 ;  i-6. 


IX 

THE  TRUMPETS  SOUND 

THE  opening  of  the  seven  seals  is  followed  by 
the  sounding  of  the  seven  trumpets,  and  this 
meant  a  new  idea  of  life  and  war  and  pain.  When 
the  four  horses  of  the  Apocalypse  rode  forth  on  their 
mission  as  a  battalion  of  death,  it  seemed  to  the  victims 
whom  they  tra'mpled  under  foot  that  a  God  of  Love, 
like  the  Love  of  God,  had  ceased  to  be.  The  desolate 
earth  heard  no  voice  from  heaven  and  knew  not  of 
the  refuge  within  the  altar  whereon  the  Lamb  Him- 
self had  been  the  first  of  the  tortured  and  slain.  In 
every  age,  in  every  society,  there  are  people,  many  of 
them,  who  feel  that  the  only  creed  for  them  is  despair. 
All  the  tolerable  fortune  has  gone  to  others.  And,  in 
very  truth,  heaven  was  silent — silent  for  half  an 
hour — not  a  syllable  of  warning,  of  comfort,  of  judg- 
ment ;  and  wrong  was  rampant. 

The  Seven  Trumpets. 

Then  John  saw  again  the  seven  angels,  standing  by 
the  throne.  Hitherto,  those  angels  had  uttered  only  a 
message  to  the  churches,  not  to  the  world  beyond,  and 
to  the  churches,  a  voice, — words, — argument, — appeal 
was  enough,  for  in  the  churches  were  men  who  had 
ears  to  hear.  But  for  the  world,  something  other 
than  the  voice  was  needed, — a  trumpet,  challenging, 

93 


94  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

mechanical,  metallic,  with  a  simple  penetrating  notCr 
These  angels  went  forth  as  a  Salvation  Army,  as  Peter 
the  Hermit  and  Savonarola,  ministers  everywhere  of 
solemn  warning  to  those  who  wrong  their  brethren  or 
their  own  selves.  No  longer  was  it  to  be  possible  for 
evil-doers  to  say  that  they  knew  no  better.  As  the 
trumpet  sounds,  the  awakened  conscience  quivers. 
The  first  forgotten  fact  was  prayer.  Which  of  the 
riders  on  those  horses  had  given  a  thought  to  mothers 
on  their  knees,  interceding  for  children;  to  children 
on  their  knees,  praying  for  mothers;  for  fathers, 
begging  God's  blessing  on  sons ;  for  gospellers  beseech- 
ing salvation  for  sinners?  Shakespeare  wrote  many 
plays ;  what  a  sensation  there  was  when  in  one  of  them 
he  asserted  that  prayer  enters  into  the  drama  of  life. 
To  John,  the  prayers  of  saints  were  seen  as  clearly  as 
incense  rising  from  a  censer.  He  had  seen  such  incense 
in  the  golden  vials,  held  by  the  four  and  twenty  elders. 
He  now  realized  that  the  incense  reaches  the  very 
heart  of  God.  An  angel  is  especially  set  aside  to  en- 
sure this  safe  delivery  of  every  humblest  petition.  The 
folded  hands  may  be  rough  with  toil,  and  the  face 
withered,  and  the  dress  tattered  and  frayed,  but  the 
prayer  is  none  the  less  precious,  and  the  censer  that 
bears  it  onward  to  the  eternal  must  be  none  other  than 
a  censer  of  gold.  It  does  not  say  that  the  prayers  of 
saints  need  be  written,  or  that  they  must  be  couched  in 
language  of  beauty  and  learning.  They  are  prayers, 
and  that  is  enough. 

The  Golden  Altar. 

On  the  threshold  of  the  throne  is  the  altar,  the  place 
of  sacrifice,  the  golden  altar.  It  is  in  Christ  as 
our  Great  High  Priest — our  Friend  at  the  Court  of 


THE  TKUMPETS  SOUND  91 

the  Eternal — that  our  hopes  and  prayers  reach  Go4 
and  no  prayer  is  true  which  cannot  be  offered  at  that 
altar  of  His  Presence.  Prayers  for  wealth  and  suc- 
cess and  vengeance  must  stand  that  test,  but  the  test  is 
one  which  leaves  unscathed  the  prayer  for  mercy,  for 
daily  help  and  for  the  happiness  of  others.  All  such 
prayers  can  be  offered  by  the  Lord  Himself  and  His 
angel  on  the  golden  altar  before  the  throne. 

These  prayers  are  not  only  answered,  but  answered 
in  full.  The  censer  which  held  the  incense  is  the  same 
vessel  which  the  angel  filled  with  fire  from  the  altar, 
and  in  equal  measure,  to  the  brim.  As  the  prayer  has 
risen  from  the  earth,  so  descended  the  fire.  Mount 
Carmel  became  the  universe  and  every  disciple  a 
prophet  Elijah.  That  fire  was  in  the  souls  of  men. 
It  was  the  flame  that  kindled  the  enthusiasm  of  St. 
Francis,  of  John  Knox,  of  the  Wesleys,  that  burns  in 
the  hearts  of  missionaries  and  teachers,  that  sustains 
the  sick  and  warms  the  poor.  It  has  made  many  a 
toiler  a  nobler  gentleman  than  many  a  squire;  it  has 
made  many  a  girl  in  service  a  truer  lady  than  many  an 
ornament  in  society.  Sometimes  that  fire  merely 
smoulders.  But  you  can  never  tell  when  it  will  break 
forth,  sweeping  like  prairie  flame  across  the  societies 
of  men  and  women. 

When  John  first  saw  the  throne,  he  noticed  that  out 
of  it  proceeded  voices  and  thunderings  and  lightnings. 
But  it  did  not  then  occur  to  him  that  these  phenomena 
were  associated  with  the  daily  prayers  of  himself  and 
the  disciples. 

The  Fire  from  Heaven, 

Now  he  understood  the  matter  fully.  He  felt  also 
the  earthquake — ^that  these  Christians  were  in  reality, 


96  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

turning  the  world  upside  down.  Here,  before  me,  I 
have  a  recent  book  on  Korea,  by  my  friend,  Mr.  F.  A. 
McKenzie,  a  journalist  like  myself,  who  writes  for 
Lord  Northcliffe  and  the  Daily  Mail.  What  does  Mr. 
McKenzie  say  in  his  preface  ? — 

The  mission  schools  taught  modern  history, 
with  its  tales  of  the  heroes  and  heroines  of  liberty, 
women  like  Joan  of  Arc,  men  like  Hampden  and 
George  Washington.  And  the  missionaries  cir- 
culated and  taught  the  Bible — the  most  dynamic 
and  disturbing  book  in  the  world.  When  a  people 
saturated  in  the  Bible  comes  into  touch  with 
tyranny,  either  of  two  things  happens,  the  people 
are  exterminated  or  tyranny  ceases. 

There  you  have  precisely  the  explanation  of  the 
imagery  we  are  discussing. 

Fired  with  coals  from  that  altar,  the  disciples  have 
spread  the  good  news  of  the  Redeemer.  They  have 
built  hospitals  and  schools,  started  missions,  painted 
noble  pictures,  composed  splendid  music  and  poetry, 
cherished  the  poor,  ministered  unto  the  aged,  reformed 
the  prisons,  liberated  the  slaves,  purified  marriage. 
It  was  no  hurried  note  that  those  seven  angels  were 
to  sound.  Holding  their  trumpets,  given  them  and 
not  devised  by  them,  they  waited  with  reverent  disci- 
pline until  their  heavenly  comrade  had  dealt  with  the 
incense.  The  prayers  of  saints  thus  had  precedence 
even  over  the  sound  of  the  prophetic  trumpet.  These 
angels  were  obedient  and  responsible  souls.  When 
given  the  trumpets, — the  capacity  to  make  themselves 
heard — they  did  not  rant  or  hastily  rail  at  Society. 
They  prepared  themselves  to  sound.     They  humbled 


THE  TRUMPETS  SOUND  97 

their  minds.  They  avoided  all  mannerisms.  One 
clear  note  rang  forth,  simple,  direct,  unwavering,  and 
in  every  case  it  challenged  the  world  exactly  at  the 
appointed  moment.  Not  one  trumpet  call  was  ill- 
timed.  Not  one  was  irrelevant.  Each  in  turn  meant 
life  or  death. 


CHAPTER  X 
FIRST  RUMBLES  OF  ARTILLERY 


THE  first  angel  sounded,  and  there  followed  hail 
and  fire  mingled  with  blood,  and  they  were  cast 
upon  the  earth:  and  the  third  part  of  trees  was 
burnt  up,  and  all  green  grass  was  burnt  up. 

And  the  second  angel  sounded,  and  as  it  were  a  great 
mountain  burning  with  fire  was  cast  into  the  sea:  and  the 
third  part  of  the  sea  became  blood; 

And  the  third  part  of  the  creatures  which  were  in  the 
sea,  and  had  Hfe,  died;  and  the  third  part  of  the  ships 
were  destroyed. 

And  the  third  angel  sounded,  and  there  fell  a  great  star 
from  heaven,  burning  as  it  were  a  lamp,  and  it  fell  upon 
the  third  part  of  the  rivers,  and  upon  the  fountains  of 
waters ; 

And  the  name  of  the  star  is  called  Wormwood,  and  the 
third  part  of  the  waters  became  wormwood;  and  manjj 
men  died  of  the  waters,  because  they  were  made  bitter. 

And  the  fourth  angel  sounded,  and  the  third  part  of  the 
sun  was  smitten,  and  the  third  part  of  the  moon,  and  the 
third  part  of  the  stars;  so  as  the  third  part  of  them  was 
darkened,  and  the  day  shone  not  for  a  third  part  of  it,  and 

the  night  likewise. 

— RJSVEI^ATION  8:7-12. 


FIRST  RUMBLES  OF  ARTILLERY 

YOU  would  have  thought  that  when  an  Angel  o! 
God  sounds  a  trumpet  in  the  ear  of  man,  the 
answer  of  man  would  be  repentance  and  faith.  But 
so  it  has  not  been.  Century  after  century  rolls  on — 
each  century  with  its  burden  of  prophecy, — and  yet 
we  still  serve  self,  strive  after  our  own  pleasures,  and 
ignore  the  consequences.  Sitting  in  armchairs,  we 
dismiss  the  symbolism  of  the  Apocalypse  as  some- 
thing remote  and  fantastic.  Let  us  not  be  too  sure. 
Europe  knows  the  truth — alas  too  well.  Russia 
knows  it  and  so  does  Armenia.  For  a  deliberate 
paganism,  whether  in  the  new  or  in  the  old  world, 
there  will  be  no  immunity.  We  have  no  right  to  ex- 
pect it.  The  decline  and  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
which  confronted  John,  will  be  followed  by  the  de- 
cline and  fall  of  any  civilization  that  behaves  like  the 
Roman  Empire.  And  the  greater  the  civilization,  the 
more  terrible  will  be  its  collapse. 

The  Big  Guns  are  Heard. 

As  the  first  trumpet  sounded,  John  saw  hail  and  fire, 
mingled  with  blood, — all  cast  upon  the  earth.  It  was 
his  first  glimpse  of  modern  artillery,  and  never  in 
literature  has  there  been  a  description  of  explosives  so 
brief  and  thus  perfect.  John  had  listened  at  Jeru- 
salem to  Peter's  first  sermon  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 

lOI 


102  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

when,  quoting  Joel,  he  had  talked  of  blood  and  fire  and 
vapour  of  smoke.  He  did  not  need  the  eruption  of 
Vesuvius  and  the  fate  of  Pompeii  to  teach  him  that  the 
volcano,  most  to  be  dreaded,  is  the  ambitious  and  lust- 
ful heart  of  man.  One-third  of  the  trees  and  one- 
third  of  the  green  grass  is  burnt  up— a  terrible  loss 
v^hich  yet  leaves  two-thirds  behind.  Trees  are  the  in- 
stitutions of  society — universities  and  churches  and 
palaces — while  grass  means  the  humble  homes,  which 
also  share  in  the  ruin  of  a  general  conflagration. 

Empires  Fadl. 

The  second  angel  sounded.  If  ye  have  faith  as  a 
grain  of  mustard  seed,  Jesus  once  declared,  ye  shall  say 
unto  this  mountain, — Be  thou  cast  into  the  midst  of 
the  sea — and  it  shall  be  done.  In  fire  and  flame  sudi  a 
mountain  was  hurled  into  such  a  sea.  In  the  imagery 
of  the  Hebrews,  the  sea  means  that  which  is  still  fail- 
ing to  worship  Jehovah — the  Gentiles.  The  land  is 
the  promised  land  and  the  mountain  is  Zion,  City  of 
our  God.  When  Jerusalem  was  captured  by  the  Ro- 
mans, the  mountain  was  in  very  truth  cast  into  the 
middle  of  the  sea.  It  was  the  destruction  of  the  higher 
civic  organism  by  the  lower.  So  also  was  the  sack  of 
Rome  and  Alexandria  by  the  Goths — of  Constanti- 
nople by  the  Turks — of  any  great  city  by  any  strong 
and  ignorant  aggressor.  And  here,  as  in  other  cases, 
there  was  an  ample  warning.  With  wisdom  in  their 
counsels,  Jerusalem  and  Alexandria  and  old  Rome 
would  be  standing  to-day,  undamaged.  Unless  cities 
heed  their  truest  prophets,  unless  they  elect  to  their 
offices  the  most  honest  of  their  citizens,  unless  they 
build  good  houses  for  the  poor  and  adequate  clinics  for 
the  children,  they  must  expect,  as  the  trumpet  sounds, 


FIRST  RUMBLES  OF  ARTILLERY       103 

to  go  the  way  of  Nineveh  and  Tyre.  As  in  Petro- 
grad,  a  third  part  of  the  population  will  vanish.  As 
in  Hamburg,  and  Venice,  and  Britain,  a  third  part  of 
the  shipping— of  man's  communication  with  man — 
will  be  wrecked. 

Religions  Collapse. 

Another  trumpet  was  heard  and  men  saw  a  star 
falling  from  heaven.  Here  is  the  mystery  of  apostate 
religions.  Protestants  have  identified  that  star  with 
Romanism,  and  I  do  not  doubt  that  Romanists  have 
returned  the  compliment.  To  the  mighty  telescope  on 
Mount  Pasadena  300,000  stars  are  visible, — near  and 
distant — great  and  small — and,  not  being  a  theological 
astronomer,  I  am  unable,  amid  such  a  multitude,  to 
identify  this  one.  What  I  see  clearly  is  this — that  as 
the  star  fell  from  heaven,  so  in  heaven  should  it  have 
remained.  Religions  fail  unless  they  abide  in  heaven 
or  the  region  of  happiness.  The  religion  that  falls  on 
rivers  and  streams  like  a  blight,  making  the  waters 
bitter  as  wormwood,  making  the  Sunday  dull  as  a 
punishment,  making  the  Bible  hideous  as  blackletter, 
making  sermons  uninteresting  as  old  newspapers, — 
that  religion,  whatever  it  be  called,  spreads  death  and 
gloom.  I  have  seen  it  cast  its  pall  over  a  village.  It 
may  paralyze  a  congregation.  There  are  countries 
where  it  curses  a  nation.  For  such  religions  there  is 
the  same  rule,  be  it  Christian,  Hindu,  Buddhist,  or 
Islamic.  All  must  be  tested  by  the  happiness  which 
they  bring  to  men,  by  the  happiness  which,  alter- 
natively, they  destroy.  When  Moses  threw  a  tree  into 
the  waters,  the  bitter  became  sweet,  and  so  was  it  in 
Elisha's  day.  Ruined  is  any  religion  which  turns 
sweet  into  bitter,  invading  the  home,  disturbing  the 


104  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

love  of  husband  and  wife,  forbidding  innocent  pleas- 
ures, and  justifying  social  inequalities. 

Dark  Ages  Intervene. 

No  one,  I  think,  who  has  studied  in  his  Ruskin  or 
elsewhere  the  interpretation  of  Religion  by  Art  will 
be  at  a  loss  to  explain  the  happenings  which  followed 
the  blast  of  the  fourth  trumpet.  The  Light  of  the 
World  was  obscured.  Dark  ages  set  in.  The  sun, 
as  source  of  light,  was  clouded,  meaning  surely  God's 
direct  illumination  of  the  heart.  The  moon,  where 
light  is  reflected,  was  also  eclipsed,  meaning  the  Scrip- 
tures— art — all  that  shows  forth  the  Being  of  God. 
That  era  dawned  wherein  the  glories  of  mediaeval 
architecture  hardened  into  a  gridiron  window ;  and  the 
splendours  of  an  instructed  evangelism  into  a  mere 
repetition  of  formulas ;  when  ceremonies,  once  full  of 
meaning,  became  mechanical ;  when  theology  was  high 
and  dry  or  low  and  dead.  A  third  part  of  the  stars, — 
of  the  churches — were  dark  and  moribund. 

This  is  the  fourth  disaster.  It  follows  revolution, 
ruin,  apostasy.  It  is  the  overshadowing  of  a  brilliant 
regime.  It  is  what  overtook  the  Roman  Empire,  and 
unless  we  heed  our  warnings,  it  surely  threatens  our 
own  proud  and  elaborate  civilization.  But  the  ruin, 
whether  of  property,  states,  churches,  or  civilization 
is  only  as  to  "  one-third."  Evil  is  only  partial — local 
— temporary  and  nothing  can  be  universal,  nothing 
can  encompass  land  and  sea,  except  the  good — ^the 
ultimate  City  of  God. 


CHAPTER  XI 
THE  FIERCE  BIRDS  OF  PREY 


AND  I  beheld,  and  heard  an  angel  flying  through 
the  midst  of  heaven,  saying  with  a  loud  voice.  Woe, 
woe,  woe,  to  the  inhabiters  of  the  earth,  by  reason 
of  the  other  voices  of  the  trumpet  of  the  three  angels, 
which  are  yet  to  sound! 

And  the  fifth  angel  sounded,  and  I  saw  a  star  fall  from 
heaven  unto  the  earth:  and  to  him  was  given  the  key  of 
the  bottomless  pit. 

And  he  opened  the  bottomless  pit;  and  there  arose  a 
smoke  out  of  the  pit,  as  the  smoke  of  a  great  furnace;  and 
the  sun  and  the  air  were  darkened  by  reason  of  the  smoke 
of  the  pit. 

And  there  came  out  of  the  smoke  locusts  upon  the 
earth:  and  unto  them  was  given  power,  as  the  scorpions 
of  the  earth  have  power. 

And  it  was  commanded  them  that  they  should  not  hurt 
the  grass  of  the  earth,  neither  any  green  thing,  neither 
any  tree;  but  only  those  men  which  have  not  the  seal  of 
God  in  their  foreheads. 

And  to  them  it  was  given  that  they  should  not  kill  them, 
but  that  they  should  be  tormented  five  months:  and  their 
torment  was  as  the  torment  of  a  scorpion,  when  he  strik- 
eth  a  man. 

And  in  those  days  shall  men  seek  death,  and  shall  not 
find  it;  and  shall  desire  to  die,  and  death  shall  flee  from 
them. 

And  the  shapes  of  the  locusts  were  like  unto  horses  pre- 
pared unto  battle;  and  on  their  heads  were  as  it  were 
crowns  like  gold,  and  their  faces  were  as  the  faces  of  men. 

And  they  had  hair  as  the  hair  of  women,  and  their  teeth 
were  as  the  teeth  of  lions. 

And  they  had  breastplates,  as  it  were  breastplates  of 
iron;  and  the  sound  of  their  wings  was  as  the  sound  of 
chariots  of  many  horses   running  to  battle. 

And  they  had  tails  like  unto  scorpions,  and  there  were 
stings  in  their  tails :  and  their  power  was  to  hurt  men  five 
months. 

And  they  had  a  king  over  them,  which  is  the  angel  of  the 
bottomless  pit,  whose  name  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  is  Ab- 
addon, but  in  the  Greek  tongue  hath  his  name  Apollyon. 

One  woe  is  past ;  and,  behold,  there  come  two  woes  more 
hereafter. 

— Revei^ation  8 :  13-9 : 1-12. 


XI 

THE  FIERCE  BIRDS  OF  PREY 

OF  all  birds,  the  eagle,  with  its  talons  that  clutch 
and  its  beak  that  tears,  is  I  suppose  by  reputa- 
tion the  most  cruel.  It  is  the  imperial  bird,  its  very 
eye  describable  as  piercing,  the  symbol  of  power  and 
of  pride.  Yet  it  was  the  eagle,  the  bird  of  prey,  that 
was  changed  by  the  inhumanity  of  man  towards  man 
into  an  angel  of  pity.  From  such  scenes,  the  very 
eagle  had  to  flee  in  horror,  crying.  Woe,  Woe,  Woe. 
The  Roman  eagle  could  not  face  it.  The  Russian 
eagle  disappeared.  The  German  eagle  hurried  away. 
The  Austrian  eagles  vanished.  The  eagles  of  Napo- 
leon are  no  more.  And  there  remain  no  eagles,  save 
those  of  democracy.  Thrice  Woe  was  the  alternative 
to  thrice  Holy.  Government  must  either  be  godly  or 
the  negation  of  God. 

Revolutions  are  Described. 

With  the  sounding  of  the  first  four  trumpets,  many 
established  institutions  were  overthrown.  Churches 
collapsed  and  dynasties  were  doomed.  The  time  had 
come  when  new  forces  must  enter  the  field  of  history. 
So  with  the  fifth  trumpet,  it  seemed  as  if  a  star  fell 
from  heaven.  It  was  a  phenomenon,  very  familiar  to 
revolutionary  upheavals — the  brilliant  but  hapless  aris- 
tocrat who  becomes,  for  the  moment  only,  a  champion 

107 


108  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

of  prevailing  discontents.  Such  was  Mirabeau — such 
the  Girondists  in  France ;  such  the  Lvoff s  and  Tolstoys 
and  Kropotkins  of  Russia — men  who  in  troublous 
times  desert  their  sphere  of  society  and  find  them- 
selves by  some  destiny  holding  the  key  of  the  bottom- 
less pit  of  passion  and  misery.  Such  men  unloose 
forces  which  they  cannot  control,  the  smoke  of  a 
great  furnace,  all  the  prejudices  and  ignorance  bred 
by  oppression.  The  sun  by  which  we  alone  can  see 
and  the  air  by  which  we  alone  can  breathe  are  darkened 
by  the  fumes  of  anarchy,  and  from  the  pit  there  emerge 
swarms  of  locusts.  These  are  the  denizens  of  the  un- 
derworld, the  canaille,  the  peons,  the  serfs,  the  seventy- 
five  per  cent,  of  slavedom  on  which  rested  the  Roman 
Empire,  who  have  lived  so  close  to  the  soil  that  mere 
eating — the  mere  satisfaction  of  material  needs — is 
their  utmost  desire.  Hence,  the  Jacobins,  the  Bol- 
sheviki, — hence  Terrorists  anywhere. 

The  un-Christian  Proletariat. 

The  locusts,  so  despised  but  yesterday,  now  receive 
power,  the  proletariat  mounts  the  saddle  and  becomes 
supreme.  It  is  not  a  Christian  proletariat ;  it  has  power 
as  of  a  scorpion,  the  power  of  injury,  a  nature  turned 
to  poison.  And  thus  there  opens  a  Reign  of  Terror, 
not  indeed  very  long, — the  period  is  five  months — but 
appalling  while  it  lasts — a  veritable  torment.  Revolu- 
tion has  its  horrors,  but  it  is  on  the  whole  less  destruc- 
tive than  wars  of  aggression.  Simple  things  like  grass 
and  trees  and  greenery  survive  and,  even  in  their  fury, 
the  people  have  no  quarrel,  save  with  those  who  have 
not  the  seal  of  God  upon  their  foreheads.  Democracy 
has  its  spasms  of  madness  but,  on  the  whole,  democ- 
racy does  not  persecute.     In  democracy,  there  is  room 


THE  FIEECE  BIEDS  OF  PKEY  109 

for  discipleship.    Such  toleration  is  "  commanded  " — 
it  is  a  fundamental  law. 

The  Reign  of  Terror. 

But  the  mere  fact  that  democracy  has  been  liber- 
ated from  a  bottomless  pit  of  degradation  does  not 
mean  that  democracy  is  yet  safe  for  the  world.  It 
has  a  sting  in  its  tail.  In  the  clubs  and  committees 
of  democracy,  where  is  exercised  the  power  of  life  and 
death  over  individuals,  the  prick  of  a  pin  may  kill  a 
suspect.  A  personal  grudge  may  doom  innocence. 
There  has  to  be  a  surveillance,  else  men  would  com- 
mit suicide.  Living  under  such  conditions,  they 
would  rather  make  an  end  of  themselves.  The  life 
is  not  worth  the  living  of  it. 

With  a  press  highly  organized  throughout  the  world 
and  served  by  actual  spectators  of  what  is  occurring, 
we  yet  obtain  but  a  confused  idea  of  the  great  war  and 
of  the  revolutions  which  followed  it.  We  need  not 
be  surprised,  then,  if  John,  scanning  a  distant  horizon, 
presents  at  times  a  confused  idea  also  of  what  he 
dimly  sees.  The  point  is  that  his  eye  discovers  amid 
the  confusion  the  things  which  are  vital,  as  for  in- 
stance this  supreme  issue  whether,  amid  our  empires 
and  republics,  life  has  or  has  not  been  made  worth 
while.  So  also,  he  is  able  at  least  to  detect  the  essen- 
tials of  modern  revolution.  He  foresaw  that  revolu- 
tions are  not  pacifist.  No  sooner  are  the  locusts  free 
of  the  bottomless  pit  than  you  find  them  armed  with 
breastplates  of  iron  and  mounted,  as  on  chariots  drawn 
by  horses  to  battle.  On  their  heads  are  crowns  of 
gold — the  trappings  of  a  despoiled  civilization — and 
while  they  are  men  they  are  careless  of  appearances 
and,  by  a  curious  trait,  allow  their  hair  to  grow  like  a 


no  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

woman's.  Thus  were  the  Goths — the  first  revolution- 
ists— who  emerged  from  the  bottomless  pit  of  bar- 
barism and  seized  on  old  Rome.  Thus  also  were  the 
French  who  seized  on  old  France  and  the  Russians  who 
seized  on  old  Russia. 

The  Rise  of  Marat  and  Lenine. 

John  saw,  too,  that  even  revolutionists  must  find  a 
leader.  The  bright  but  ill-fated  star  that  falls  into  the 
movement  from  a  world,  once  happier,  will  not  serve. 
The  leader  must  be,  in  the  long  run,  some  man  like 
Marat  or  Lenine  who  has  himelf  lived  in  the  bottom- 
less pit.  He  must  be  among  the  emerged — a  Danton, 
a  Robespierre,  a  Trotsky.  But  while  he  is  comrade, 
he  acts  as  king.  He  is  as  much  a  personal  despot  as 
the  tyrants  whom  he  displaces.  It  is  not  liberty  that 
the  revolution  has  secured,  but  merely  a  new  autocracy, 
brought  into  the  daylight.  The  man  may  be  called  by 
different  names  in  different  countries, — Abaddon  in 
Hebrew  or  Apollyon  in  Greek — but  his  meaning  and 
purpose  are  the  same.  He  is  a  destroyer,  not  a  builder. 
He  makes  the  rich  poor  without  making  the  poor  rich. 
He  tears  down  the  old  Jerusalem,  but  lays  no  founda- 
tion for  the  new.  He  burns  the  Tuileries,  but  erects 
no  tenements.  He  shatters  the  churches  but  leaves  the 
cottages  still  to  rot.  He  criticizes  constitutions  with- 
out thinking  of  better.  He  is  negative,  not  positive — 
even  as  a  woe,  he  is  not  perpetual,  for  suddenly  his 
day  passes.     And  he  becomes  but  an  evil  memory. 


CHAPTER  XII 
BY  THE  RIVER  EUPHRATES 


AND  the  sixth  angel  sounded,  and  I  heard  a  voice 
from  the  four  horns  of  the  golden  altar  which  is 
before  God, 

Saying  to  the  sixth  angel  which  had  the  trumpet,  Loose 
the  four  angels  which  are  bound  in  the  great  river  Eu- 
phrates. 

And  the  four  angels  were  loosed,  which  were  prepared 
for  an  hour,  and  a  day,  and  a  month,  and  a  year,  for  to 
slay  the  third  part  of  men. 

And  the  number  of  the  army  of  the  horsemen  were  two 
hundred  thousand  thousand:  and  I  heard  the  number  of 
them. 

And  thus  I  saw  the  horses  in  the  vision,  and  them  that 
sat  on  them,  having  breastplates  of  fire,  and  of  jacinth,  and 
brimstone :  and  the  heads  of  the  horses  iL'ere  as  the  heads 
of  lions:  and  out  of  their  mouths  issued  fire  and  smolce 
and  brimstone. 

By  these  three  was  the  third  part  of  men  killed,  by  the 
fire,  and  by  the  smoke,  and  by  the  brimstone,  which  is- 
sued out  of  their  mouths. 

For  their  power  is  in  their  mouth,  and  in  their  tails :  for 
their  tails  were  like  unto  serpents,  and  had  heads,  and  with 
them   they   do   hurt. 

And  the  rest  of  the  men  which  were  not  killed  by  these 
plagues,  yet  repented  not  of  the  works  of  their  hands, 
that  they  should  not  worship  devils,  and  idols  of  gold,  and 
silver,  and  brass,  and  stone,  and  of  wood:  which  neither 
can  see,  nor  hear,  nor  walk: 

Neither  repented  they  of  their  murders,  nor  of  their 
sorceries,  nor  of  their  fornication,  nor  of  their  thefts. 

— REVEI.ATI0N  9 :  13-21. 


XII 

BY  THE  RIVER  EUPHRATES 

WHEN  I  told  a  friend  in  the  ministry  that  I  was 
writing  next  about  the  Apocalypse,  he  an- 
swered cheerfully  that  my  troubles  would  begin  with 
the  River  Euphrates.  As  the  Sixth  Angel  sounds  his 
trumpet,  I  find  myself  standing  by  the  old  and  for- 
midable stream,  where  so  many  rival  interpreters  have 
fought  one  another  and  died.  When  John  was  per- 
plexed, he  had  a  habit  of  looking  upwards,  and  he 
never  so  looked  in  vain.  Thus  it  was  that  he  saw  the 
eagle  of  pity  flying  over  an  unconscious  world  of 
sorrow  and  pain.  Thus  it  was  that,  here  by  the 
Euphrates,  he  caught  a  nearer  glimpse  of  the  golden 
altar  before  the  Throne. 

The  Four-Horned  Altar. 

Hitherto,  that  altar  had  only  suggested  to  John's 
mind  the  idea  of  incense,  of  prayer.  Here  was  the 
religion  of  personal  piety,  of  devotional  text-books,  of 
holiness  and  confidence  in  God.  About  that  incense 
there  was  an  exquisite  flavour  of  reverence  and  of 
beauty,  but  John  now  perceived  that  the  altar  of  in- 
cense was  furnished  also  with  horns.  To  him,  as  a 
Jew,  bred  in  the  symbolism  of  the  tabernacle,  these 
horns  meant — in  one  word — power.  When  the  Lamb 
in  the  midst  of  the  throne  was  seen  with  seven  horns, 
it  meant  Christ  in  His  varied  omnipotence.     The  liv- 

113 


114  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

ing  creature  which  had  ten  horns  was  an  empire  with 
push, — strong  and  aggressive.  If  Joab,  the  son  of 
Zeruiah,  fled  from  the  wrath  of  Solomon  and  clung 
to  the  horns  of  the  altar,  it  was  because  in  the  ex- 
tremity of  his  peril  he  sought  to  grip  that  thing  in  his 
religion  which  would  not  give  way. 

An  altar,  as  seen  by  John,  having  four  horns,  meant 
therefore,  a  faith  which  influences  history  in  all  direc- 
tions— north  and  south  and  east  and  west.  It  is  the 
religion  which  abolished  the  slave  trade,  which  fights 
the  opium  and  the  liquor  traffic,  which  puts  down  the 
mighty  from  their  seats  and  exalts  them  of  low  de- 
gree. It  was  from  the  powerful  "  horn  "  of  such  a 
religion  that  the  Voice  cried,  ''  Loose  the  four  angels 
which  are  hound  in  the  great  River  Euphrates." 

Imperialism. 

That  ancient  waterway,  first  mentioned  as  flowing 
through  the  Garden  of  Eden,  had  always  been  the 
boundary  of  Israel's  hopes.  To  a  Jew  like  John,  the 
River  Euphrates  was  what  the  St.  Lawrence  is  to  the 
Canadian,  what  the  Rhine  is  to  a  Frenchman  or  a 
German,  what  the  Indus  was  to  Alexander  the  Great. 
The  valley  of  the  Euphrates  was  the  battle-field  where 
Medes  and  Persians,  Turks  and  Tartars  and  Baby- 
lonians have,  century  after  century,  fought  to  the 
death.  To  loose  the  four  angels  of  that  river  was  to 
let  slip  over  all  the  world, — north  and  south  and  east 
and  west — the  hungry  dogs  of  war.  It  was  as  if  some 
Mexican  were  to  loose  the  angel  of  the  Rio  Grande. 
It  was  as  when  the  Czar,  provoking  Japan,  loosed  the 
angel  of  the  Yalu  River;  or  the  Austrians,  impudently 
slandering  Serbia,  loosed  the  four  angels  of  the 
Danube.     There  is  not  a  frontier  river  on  the  face  of 


BY  THE  EIVER  EUPHRATES  115 

the  globe  where  the  angels  of  ambition  and  greed  and 
jealousy  and  malice  do  not  lie  bound,  and  so  must  it 
be,  except  as  the  hearts  of  men  are  changed. 

Der  Tag  Announced. 

Germany  was  offered  by  her  greatest  man,  Martin 
Luther,  the  greatest  gift  of  which  man  is  capable, — 
that  is,  a  Bible  translated  into  the  vernacular  of  die 
common  folk.  It  was  by  the  deliberate  act  of  Germans 
themselves  that  the  Bible  was  closed.  The  very  warn- 
ing which  would  have  saved  Germany  from  defeat  and 
disgrace  therefore  went  unheeded.  The  militarists  of 
Prussia,  who  over  their  cups  toasted  Der  Tag,  were 
totally  oblivious  of  the  fact  that  they  were  playing  the 
terrible  part,  foreshadowed  in  John's  vision — that  they 
were  preparing  the  four  angels  of  modern  and  world- 
wide war,  for  an  hour  and  a  day  and  a  month  and  a 
year — for  a  precise,  prearranged  moment,  when  the 
chief  of  staff  had  merely  to  touch  a  button  and  all  the 
murderous  machinery  for  slaying  one-third  part  of 
men  would  be  put  into  operation.  In  John's  days,  the 
mere  notion  that  armies  would  number  two  hundred 
million  men  seemed  preposterous.  Yet  this  is  the  fig- 
ure that  he  mentions, — doubtless  as  a  symbol.  With  a 
note  of  sheer  incredulity,  he  exclaims,  "  I  heard  the 
number  of  them"  For  us,  an  organization  for  killing 
mankind  does  not  seem  preposterous  when  estimated 
at  two  hundred  millions.  In  the  late  upheaval  there 
were  fully  that  number  of  men  and  women  engaged 
either  in  the  fighting,  or  upon  munitions,  or  upon  what 
was  called  war  work. 

Development  of  Artillery. 

John's  earlier  vision  of  war  was  simple.     He  saw 


116  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

the  horses  and  he  saw  their  riders.  But  he  now  per- 
ceives that  science  has  been  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
practice  of  slaughter.  I  would  ask  those  who  deny 
the  miracle  of  prophecy  to  read  in  some  true  transla- 
tion what  now  follows.  What  are  these  breastplates, 
"  fiery-red,  fuliginous,  and  sulphurous/'  seen  by  John 
on  the  horizon  of  time?  What  are  these  horses,  with 
heads  as  of  lions,  belching  forth  from  their  mouths 
fire  and  smoke  and  brimstone?  What  is  this  strange 
weapon  which  hurts  with  its  tail?  I  have  read  much 
war  correspondence,  many  graphic  pictures  of  a  battle 
on  the  Somme  or  the  Argonne  or  around  Verdun. 
Nowhere  have  I  read  so  terse,  so  accurate  and  so  com- 
pelling a  description  of  modern  artillery,  in  its  many 
deadly  forms, — the  poison  gas,  the  great  guns,  the 
whizz-bangs,  the  aerial  and  aquatic  torpedoes. 

Commerce  and  War. 

And  in  summing  up  the  whole  business  he  strikes 
straight  and  he  strikes  deep  at  the  motives  which  make 
men  quarrel  over  the  great  River  Euphrates.  What 
men  were  considering  was  the  works  of  their  hands. 
They  were  after  trade  and  profits  and  idols  of  gold 
and  silver  and  brass  and  stone  and  wood.  The  devil 
of  it  all  w^as  in  the  metal  deposits,  the  valuable  for- 
ests, the  hope  of  exploiting  somebody  else's  vineyard. 
No  attention  was  paid  to  men  and  women  and  chil- 
dren who  are  alive,  who  see  and  hear  and  walk  about. 
And  the  saddest  part  is  that  when  peace  came,  and 
losses  were  reckoned  up  and  the  bills  paid,  there 
were  those  whose  minds  were  unchanged  as  to  the 
murders — Ludendorfs  and  Hindenburgs,  who  did  not 
at  all  repent  of  their  sorceries;  profiteers  who  boasted 
of  their  thefts  and  professors  who  still  prostituted  the 


BY  THE  EIVER  EUPHEATES  117 

truth  to  the  cause  of  organized  assassination.  When 
once  you  unloose  those  four  angels  of  the  great  River 
Euphrates,  you  can  never  be  assured  that  they  will  be 
again  bound  and  helpless.  Indeed,  John  does  not 
mention  their  recapture.  And  I  cannot  but  contrast 
these  four  messengers,  who  turned  the  River  of  Eden 
into  blood,  and  the  Garden  of  Eden  into  a  wilderness, 
with  the  seven  good  messengers,  who  stood  before  the 
throne,  doing  the  will  of  the  one  Father. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
THE  ANGEL  AND  THE  BOOK 


AND  I  saw  another  mighty  angel  come  down  from 
heaven,  clothed  with  a  cloud:    and  a  rainbow  was 
upon  his  head,  and  his  face  was  as  it  were  the  sun, 
and  his  feet  as  pillars  of  fire : 

And  he  had  in  his  hand  a  Httle  book  open:  and  he 
set  his  right  foot  upon  the  sea,  and  his  left  foot  on  the 
earth, 

And  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  as  zvhen  a  lion  roareth: 
iand  when  he  had  cried,  seren  thunders  uttered  their  voices. 

And  when  the  seven  thunders  had  uttered  their  voices,  I 
was  about  to  write:  and  I  heard  a  voice  from  heaven 
saying  unto  me,  Seal  up  those  things  which  the  seven 
thunders  uttered,  and  write  them  not. 

And  the  angel  which  I  saw  stand  upon  the  sea  and  upon 
the  earth  lifted  up  his  hand  to  heaven, 

And  sware  by  him  that  liveth  for  ever  and  ever,  who 
created  heaven,  and  the  things  that  therein  are,  and  the 
earth,  and  the  things  that  therein  are,  and  the  sea,  and  the 
things  which  are  therein,  that  there  should  be  time  no 
longer : 

But  in  the  days  of  the  voice  of  the  seventh  angel,  when 
he  shall  begin  to  sound,  the  mystery  of  God  should  be 
finished,  as  he  hath  declared  to  his  servants  the  prophets. 

And  the  voice  which  I  heard  from  heaven  spake  unto  me 
again,  and  said.  Go  and  take  the  little  book  which  is  open 
in  the  hand  of  the  angel  which  standeth  upon  the  sea  and 
upon  the  earth. 

And  I  went  unto  the  angel,  and  said  unto  him,  Give  me 
the  little  book.  And  he  said  unto  me,  Take  it,  and  eat  it 
up ;  and  it  shall  make  thy  belly  bitter,  but  it  shall  be  in  thy 
mouth  sweet  as  honey. 

And  I  took  the  little  book  out  of  the  angel's  hand,  and 
ate  it  up;  and  it  was  in  my  mouth  sweet  as  honey:  and 
as  soon  as  I  had  eaten  it,  my  belly  was  bitter. 

And  he  said  unto  me.  Thou  must  prophesy  again  before 
many  peoples,  and  nations,  and  tongues,  and  kings. 

— Revei^atign  io:i-ii. 


XIII 
THE  ANGEL  AND  THE  BOOK 

YOU  will  remember  that  when  the  Seventh  Seal 
was  broken,  there  was  silence  in  heaven  for  half 
an  hour.  Even  John,  with  his  preternatural  instinct 
for  divining  the  tendencies  of  history,  was  baffled  by 
the  problems  of  our  modern  era,  could  get  no  further, 
and  had  to  begin  his  journey  through  the  future  all 
over  again,  treading  a  longer  and  more  arduous  path, 
in  which,  at  every  step,  he  traced  events  to  causes. 
With  a  deeper  vision  and  a  keener  hearing,  he  is  now 
back  again  at  the  point  of  time  which  before  was 
silence,  and  we  shall  find  that  his  story,  though  told 
in  symbol,  is  as  plain  as  what  we  read,  of  a  morning,  in 
the  newspaper. 

Let  us  recall,  for  an  instant,  the  conclusion  of  the 
last  chapter.  We  had  seen  that,  according  to  John's 
foresight,  idealists  everywhere  were  bitterly  complain- 
ing that  a  great  war  had  failed  to  change  men's  selfish 
and  corrupt  minds, — to  lead  them  into  repentance — 
and  that  all  the  loss,  all  the  bloodshed  had  been  in 
vain.  Now,  whatever  else  we  may  think  of  the  seer 
on  Patmos,  we  must  at  least  admit  that,  on  the  evi- 
dence of  his  Visions,  he  was  a  man  who  could  face  the 
worst.  If,  then,  his  dream,  already  so  terrible  in 
many  of  its  details,  did  not  end  in  sheer  nightmare,  it 
was  only  because  in  the  darkest  hour  this  great  saint 

121 


122  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

of  God  could  again  look  upward,  and  while  not  one 
sorrow,  not  one  plague,  not  one  panic,  not  one 
massacre  escaped  his  ruthless  imagination,  could  dis- 
play the  courage  to  see  a  hitherto  unsuspected  yet 
mighty  angel,  standing  astride  the  oceans,  so  recently 
stained  with  blood,  and  the  lands  just  ruined  and  deso- 
lated. 

What  exactly  was  the  prospect  which  John  descried, 
as  it  were,  on  the  horizon?  Well,  it  was  just  this. 
Statesmen  and  merchants  and  travellers  were  foolishly 
seeking  happiness  in  the  River  Euphrates.  All  their 
discussions,  their  treaties,  the  articles  they  contributed 
to  the  monthly  reviews,  and  their  plots  centred  around 
some  river,  its  access  to  the  sea,  its  strategic  possibili- 
ties and  its  industrial  resources.  But  John  had  been 
taught  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  within  us,  that 
what  matters  is  not  the  River  Euphrates,  flowing 
through  a  deserted  Eden,  which  wrong-doing  had 
withered,  but  our  thought,  the  books  we  read,  the 
hopes  we  cherish,  the  impulses  w^e  foster  and  the  pleas- 
ures we  enjoy.  Hence  it  was  that  he  shows  us  this 
mighty  angel,  dominating  land  and  sea,  not  because  he 
commanded  armies  and  navies,  but  because  in  his  hand 
he  held  one  little  Book.  In  the  whole  Roman  Empire, 
rich,  wise  and  powerful  as  were  many  of  the  men 
who  governed  it — I  doubt  if  there  was  one  person  of 
sufficient  discernment  to  follow  John's  amazing  idea, 
at  this  time,  that  a  Book  would  transform  history. 

The  Bible  Distributed. 

About  the  Book,  there  is  no  secret.  With  the 
Seventh  Trumpet  about  to  sound,  it  is  a  Book  which 
lies  open  to  all  men's  eyes.  It  is  a  Book  neither  sealed 
nor  chained,  but  freely  translated  into  every  tongue. 


THE  ANGEL  AND  THE  BOOK  123 

and  cheaply  printed  for  every  reader,  however  poor. 
A  penny  or  two  will  buy  it.  So  thin  is  its  paper — in 
our  day,  though  not  in  John's — that  a  pocket  will 
hold  it.  Though  the  Canon  of  Scripture  was  yet 
undecided  when  John  wrote,  we  have  now  the  plain 
fact  that  his  dream  is  realized — the  antidote  to  war 
and  hatred  and  vice  is  a  Book — the  Bible  is  an  actu- 
ality, impossible  to  dismiss — and  if  John  wrote  more 
truly  than  he  knew,  that  theory  only  brings  in  a 
Greater  than  John  and  asserts  His  larger  mind.  For 
what  an  amazing  thing  it  is  that  the  book  should  seem 
"little''  to  John!  Just  what  any  ancient  would  say 
if  he  could  see  the  size  of  our  volumes — especially  our 
pocket  Bibles. 

With  an  astounding  insight,  John  realized  that 
the  angel  or  messenger  who  carries  this  Book,  though 
it  is  so  small,  must  be  in  himself  "  mighty."  The  dis- 
tribution of  the  Scriptures,  their  liberation  from 
ecclesiastical  and  political  bondage,  has  always  been  a 
tremendous  task.  In  that  mighty  messenger  of  good- 
will, we  see  the  scholar,  poring  over  ancient  manu- 
scripts,— the  translator  reducing  to  grammar  the  lan- 
guage of  some  savage  tribe — the  colporteur  leading  his 
laden  beast  over  the  pony  tracts  of  Spanish  moun- 
tains— the  boy  or  girl  putting  pennies  into  the  Bible 
Society  box — the  artist  who  paints  sacred  scenes — the 
archseologist  who  unearths  sacred  cities.  That  mighty 
angel  is  anybody,  anywhere,  at  any  time,  who  gives  the 
Bible,  by  any  method,  or  explains  the  Bible,  or  lives 
the  Bible,  among  whomsoever  he  may  labour.  This 
angel  had  no  wings — as  had  the  Angel  of  Pity,  who 
cried  Woe,  Woe,  Woe.  The  angel  with  the  Bible  had 
feet,  firmly  planted  on  the  world  where  we  actually 
live.     He  was  no  mere  emotionalist,  flying  over  the 


124  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

clouds,  but  a  practical  helper  of  hard  pressed  men  and 
women. 

The  Inspired  Colporteur. 

This,  then, — our  Bible — was  what  John  declared  to 
be  the  medicine  for  the  various  developing  curses  of 
mankind.  It  is  the  book  for  sea  and  land, — for  Jew 
and  Gentile — for  Christian  and  Pagan — for  those  who 
believe  and  those  who  don't — for  those  who  are  still 
at  sea,  and  those  whose  feet  have  touched  the  terra 
firma  of  faith.  But  the  messenger  who  brings  the 
Bible  should  be  worthy  of  his  calling.  The  mighty 
angel  was  radiant  with  the  attributes  of  divinity.  His 
garment  was  the  very  cloud  which  clothes  the  Being 
of  God.  The  canopy  over  his  head  was  the  rainbow 
of  the  covenant  which  means  that,  amid  tumults  and 
disappointments,  God  is  true  to  His  word  with  man. 
On  his  face,  shining  like  the  sun,  there  is  hope,  joy, 
purpose,  while  his  feet,  beautiful  upon  the  mountains, 
are  as  pillars  of  fire — burning  with  unquenchable  en- 
thusiasm. That  was  John's  conception  of  a  colporteur 
— of  any  one  who  tries  to  get  men  to  look  into  the 
Bible.  They  must  be  risen  with  Christ,  and  as  glorious 
as  He,  when  John  saw  Him. 

The  cry  of  the  colporteur  and  of  the  evangelist,  or 
"  good  angel "  of  the  world, — for  this  is  what  evan- 
gelist means — sometimes  seems  to  us  to  be  feeble  and 
vacillating — indeed,  scarcely  audible  amid  the  din  of 
our  progress.  But  what  John  heard  was  this  cry  in  its 
challenging  authority  over  the  human  conscience.  He 
had  been  troubled  with  visions  of  war.  But  his  idea 
was  now  that,  with  the  coming  of  peace,  the  sound  of 
the  Gospel  would  ring  in  men's  ears,  louder  than  ever 
before.     The  teachings  of  Christ, — so  simple,  so  calm. 


THE  ANGEL  AND  THE  BOOK  125 

so  just — would  be  feared  by  unrepentant  men  and 
women,  as  we  fear  the  roar  of  a  lion.  The  echo, 
throughout  the  world,  would  roll  as  rolls  a  sevenfold 
peal  of  thunder — a  peal,  like  the  seven  stars  them- 
selves, at  once  varied  according  to  circumstances  and 
perfect — touching  every  department  of  life — the  home, 
the  bank,  the  armies  and  navies,  agriculture,  art, 
scholarship.  The  thunder  meant  lightning — events — 
facts — but  it  was  no  part  of  John's  task  to  tell  the 
men  of  his  day  what  those  events  would  be.  He  was 
not  writing  to  satisfy  an  irreverent  curiosity.  But  we 
of  a  later  century  are  now  able  to  see  that  the  Bible 
in  India  means  strange  yearnings  for  political  suf- 
frage,— that  the  Bible  in  China  has  changed  the 
Manchu  Dynasty  into  a  Republic — that  the  Bible  in 
Britain  has  loosened  the  chains  of  child  serfs  in  the 
mines  and  factories  of  Lancashire.  With  this  Book 
abroad  in  the  world,  tyranny  of  any  kind  is  no  longer 
undisturbed.  There  are  thunders; — a  storm  some- 
where — distant,  it  may  be,  but  approaching, — a  clear- 
ance of  long  accumulated  electricity.  If  John's  pen 
was  restrained — that  was  the  condition  of  all  great  art. 
Every  picture,  every  poem,  every  essay  should  impress 
one  with  something  unsaid, — ^with  deep  unseen  roots, 
below  ground. 

History  Made  Rapidly. 

No  one,  who  has  read  thus  far  what  I  have  written, 
will  accuse  me  of  bringing  to  John's  Vision  a  number 
of  rigid  and  preconceived  opinions.  Obviously,  I  am 
explaining  the  Book,  line  by  line,  as  it  appeals  to  me, 
not  knowing  in  advance  whither  the  spirit  within  me 
may  be  led.  If  I  regard  this  period  of  the  Seventh 
Seal  as  peculiarly  our  own,  it  is  because  I  can  do  no 


126  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

other.  The  conclusion  is  to  me  inevitable.  In  arriv- 
ing at  it,  I  have  had  no  conscious  choice  of  the  route 
to  be  pursued.  Hence,  it  is  with  a  touch  of  awe  that, 
having  found  myself  in  an  era  where  the  Bible  is  so 
important  a  world-wide  factor  in  human  destiny,  I  see 
that  the  mighty  angel,  raising  his  hand  to  heaven, 
swore  an  oath  by  Him  that  liveth  in  the  ages  of  the 
age:  Who  created  the  heaven  and  the  things  in  it,  and 
the  earth  and  the  things  in  it,  and  the  sea  and  the  things 
in  it — Who  therefore  knows  all  that  there  is  to  be 
known  about  our  universe.  What  is  that  oath,  so 
tremendous  in  its  asseveration?  It  is  that  Time,  or 
more  truly  Delay  shall  be  no  longer, — that  great  events 
will  now  move  with  great  rapidity — that  human  life  is 
at  its  culmination. 

For  the  moment,  I  leave  it  thus.  In  these  verses 
John  himself  only  tells  us  that,  in  this  period,  the  mys- 
tery of  God  will  be  finished.  How  to  define  that  mys- 
tery, I  do  not  yet  inquire,  but  its  completion  or  finish- 
ing means  a  final  and  complete  understanding — a  long 
delayed  settlement  between  human  society  and  Jesus 
Christ.  From  this  point  onwards,  every  syllable  of 
the  Apocalypse  confronts  the  rebels  with  their  Sov- 
ereign Lord. 

A  Personal  Gift. 

I  am  encouraged  in  thus  leaving  the  mystery,  be- 
cause to  John  also  there  came  a  message — from  a 
familiar  Voice — from  Christ  Himself,  Whom  he  had 
seen,  as  his  vision  opened,  which  voice  said  to  him,  in 
effect — The  important  thing  for  you,  John  of  Patmos, 
is  not  these  seven  interesting  thunders — not  the  Bol- 
shevism and  the  Yellow  Peril — hut  that  you  yourself 
take  from  the  mighty  angel,  just  this  one  little  Booh 


THE  ANGEL  AND  THE  BOOK  127 

Don't  merely  glance  at  it.  Bat  it.  Get  it  into  your 
very  system,  make  it  part  of  yourself — your  mind — 
your  soul.  Jeremiah  had  this  idea  of  thus  appropriat- 
ing the  Scriptures.  So  had  Ezekiel.  And,  with  that 
daring  which  He  displayed  so  often  in  His  symboUsm, 
our  Saviour  Himself  would  speak  of  our  eating  His 
flesh  and  drinking  His  blood,  so  having  His  life 
pulsating  within  us. 

Christ  did  not  deceive  John.  He  knew  that  while 
the  Bible  is  in  form — and  to  our  taste — the  sweetest  of 
all  literature— it  is  a  substance  hard  to  digest.  Liter- 
ally, it  does  not  agree  with  us — with  our  habits,  our 
comforts,  our  jealousies,  our  worship  of  success — it 
is  a  diet,  at  once,  unusual  and  exacting. 

But  any  one  who  thus  masters  the  Bible  becomes, 
like  John  of  Patmos,  a  person  with  whom  society  has 
to  reckon.  He  acquires  that  which  cannot  be  ignored. 
He  prophesies  concerning  nations  and  kingdoms  and 
many  kings.  When  Paul  was  told  that  he  must  stand 
before  monarchs,  he  was  a  young  man  with  life  be- 
fore him  and  there  was  a  fair  inherent  probability  on 
human  grounds  that  the  saying  would  be  fulfilled. 
But  John  was  now  an  aged,  forgotten  captive.  I 
doubt  if  he  ever  expected  again  to  cross  the  ocean. 
But  the  very  fact  that  I  am  writing  this  book  and  that 
it  is  to  be  published,  means  that  for  centuries  John  has 
prophesied  for  nations  and  their  rulers.  What  seemed 
then  so  utterly  improbable,  has  been  changed  into  a 
recorded  miracle.  He  being  dead,  yet  speaketh. 
Beyond  all  contradiction,  many  kings  and  kingdoms 
and  many  peoples  must  confront  this  singular,  formi- 
dable and  unsparing  prophet,  who  alone  has  fathomed 
the  moral  whirlpools  of  our  annals. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE  TWO  OLIVE  TREES 


AND  there  was  given  me  a  reed  like  unto  a  rod :  and 
the   angel   stood,    saying,    Rise,   and   measure   the 
temple  of   God,   and    the  altar,   and     them   that 
worship  therein. 

But  the  court  which  is  without  the  temple  leave  out,  and 
measure  it  not ;  for  it  is  given  unto  the  Gentiles :  and  the 
holy  city  shall  they  tread  under  foot  forty  and  two 
months. 

And  I  will  give  pozver  unto  my  two  witnesses,  and  they 
shall  prophesy  a  thousand  two  hundred  and  threescore 
days,  clothed  in  sackcloth. 

These  are  the  two  olive  trees,  and  the  two  candlesticte* 
standing  before  the  God  of  the  earth. 

And  if  any  man  will  hurt  them,  fire  proceedeth  out  of 
their  mouth,  and  devoureth  their  enemies :  and  if  any  man 
will  hurt  them,  he  must  in  this  manner  be  killed. 

These  have  power  to  shut  heaven,  that  it  rain  not  in  the 
days  of  their  prophecy:  and  have  power  over  waters  to 
turn  them  to  blood,  and  to  smite  the  earth  with  all  plagues, 
as  often  as  they  will. 

And  when  they  shall  have  finished  their  testimony,  the 
beast  that  ascendeth  out  of  the  bottomless  pit  shall  make 
war  against  them,  and  shall  overcome  them,  and  kill  them. 

And  their  dead  bodies  shall  lie  in  the  street  of  the  great 
city,  which  spiritually  is  called  Sodom  and  Egypt,  where- 
also  our  I^ord  was  crucified. 

And  they  of  the  people,  and  kindreds,  and  tongues,  and 
nations,  shall  see  their  dead  bodies  three  days  and  an  half, 
and  shall  not  suffer  their  dead  bodies  to  be  put  in  graves. 

And  they  that  dwell  upon  the  earth  shall  rejoice  over 
them,  and  make  merry,  and  shall  send  gifts  one  to  another.;; 
because  these  two  prophets  tormented  them  that  dwelt  on 
the  earth. 

— Revei^ation  II :  i-io. 


XIV 
THE  TWO  OLIVE  TREES 

HERE  then  we  have  in  John  a  man  who  has  made 
the  Bible  his  daily  food.  He  has — so  to  say — 
eaten  the  Book  and  it  has  become  a  part  of  himself. 
He  may  have  been  too  poor  a  man  to  have  a  copy  of 
his  own  in  those  days  of  the  manuscript  and  he  was 
thus  like  some  invalid  who  is  too  blind  to  read,  too 
weak  to  hold,  too  deaf  to  hear  the  Scriptures — ^who 
yet  remembers  and  is  comforted.  John  recalled  one, 
as  lonely  as  himself,  and  as  imaginative — and  this 
friend  in  need  was  none  other  than  the  prophet  Ezekiel. 
Both  men  had  been  taken  captive  of  the  Pagan.  Both 
had  seen  a  temple  at  Jerusalem,  the  marvel  of  the  East, 
looted,  burnt,  and  its  stones  thrown  down.  So  dis- 
illusioned, both  had  looked  upwards  and  had  seen 
heaven  opened.  Ezekiel  had  joined  the  church 
triumphant  while  John  remained  in  the  church  mili- 
tant. But  their  thoughts  were  in  touch,  not  by  means 
of  an  occult  medium,  but  in  words  which  one  man 
wrote  and  the  other  man  read. 

Most  of  the  Jews,  there  by  the  waters  of  Babylon, 
hung  their  harps  on  a  willow  tree  and  merely  bewailed 
the  lost  Zion.  Ezekiel,  however,  arrived  at  the 
tremendous  conviction  that  Zion,  the  place  where 
God's  name  dwells,  can  never  be  destroyed.  He  took 
an  actual  rod,  so  many  inches  long,  and  measured  the 

«3« 


132  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

New  Jerusalem  of  his  hopes  as  accurately  as  an  archi- 
tect measures  a  warehouse  or  a  mansion.  His  cour- 
age inspired  others.  What  one  man  dreams,  another 
man  fulfils.  A  few  years  later,  a  second  prophet, 
Zechariah  saw  with  his  own  eyes  the  new  temple  as  it 
rose  slowly  from  its  foundations.  Often  the  workers 
were  weary,  they  would  go  on  strike,  not  realizing  that 
they  were  themselves  a  part  of  the  common  task  of  re- 
construction. At  such  moments  of  industrial  crisis, 
Zechariah  would  take  Ezekiel's  rod  and  wo«dd  measure 
the  masonry,  so  many  bricks  laid  by  each  man  per  diem, 
and  would  show  the  men  how  it  was  up  to  them  to 
make  the  prophet's  dream  come  true. 

Brick  and  Mortar  Churches. 

That  temple  of  Zechariah  also  disappeared.  A  king 
arose  called  Herod,  who  wanted  something  grander 
and  richer,  a  great  display  of  bricks  and  mortar,  on  a 
corner  site,  costing  millions  of  money  and  including 
the  money-changers'  tables.  In  the  wilderness,  a  mere 
tabernacle  of  canvas  had  been  enough  for  the  people's 
worship,  and  even  David  had  to  learn  that  God  pays 
more  attention  to  the  cleanliness  of  our  hands  than  to 
the  magnitude  of  our  subscriptions.  When  Christ 
came,  He  looked  on  Herod's  temple  and  said  sternly 
that  all  these  fine  stones  would  be  one  day  demolished, 
leaving  the  soul  of  man  as  the  only  eternal  shrine 
where  God  is  revered.  It  was  this  temple  of  the  soul 
that  John  was  invited  to  measure.  He  was  to  turn 
from  the  seen  to  the  unseen,  from  the  material  to  the 
ideal,  yet  his  ideals  were  to  be  no  vague  or  flimsy 
romances  like  the  movies,  where  to  get  rich  without 
work  is  the  one  secret  of  momentary  happiness.  They 
were  to  be  ideals  for  every  day,  as  definite  as  the  foot- 


THE  TWO  OLIYE  TREES  133 

rule  of  the  carpenter  and  as  straightforward.  God's 
will  was  to  be  done  on  earth  exactly  as  it  was  done  in 
heaven.  With  the  rod  of  duty,  we  strike  the  Red  Sea 
and  pass  over  dryshod.  With  that  rod,  we  smite  the 
rock  and  it  yields  the  water  of  life.  And  with  the  rod, 
we  also  reckon  up  the  humdrum  "  chores  "  of  each 
morning  in  the  kitchen. 

Looking  from  his  window  at  Patmos,  John  had  only 
seen  at  first  the  seven  little  churches  of  Asia.  In  his 
landscape,  they  were  the  only  twinkling  points  of  hght. 
But  now  despite  all  calamities,  he  begins  to  notice  the 
influence  of  Our  Lord  on  society  as  a  whole.  He 
speaks  of  the  city  and  he  has  a  clear  idea  of  what  a 
city  should  be.  The  other  day,  I  saw  a  statement  that, 
at  the  current  census,  it  would  be  found  that  at  last 
New  York  had  outstripped  London  in  population. 
Mere  size  was  made  the  test  of  a  city's  success.  But 
this  was  not  John's  idea.  It  was  only  Babylon  that  he 
called  great  and  Babylon  fell.  Jerusalem  was  to  be 
**  holy,"  which  means  not  big  so  much  as  healthy  and 
joyful  and  endowed  with  plenty  of  children,  playing 
safely  in  the  streets  thereof.  To  John,  the  true  city 
was  a  sacred  thing,  as  sacred  as  a  church,  and  they  who 
misgovern  a  city  are  guilty  of  an  offense  no  less  than 
blasphemy  against  God  Himself.  Graft  is  not  merely 
a  venial  theft;  it  is  sacrilege.  To  use  John's  words, 
it  is  die  Gentile  treading  the  holy  city  under  his  feet. 
John  did  not  despair  of  the  city.  He  was  not  one  who 
wanted  to  send  everybody  back  to  the  land.  He  re- 
membered that  Christ  wept  over  the  city  and  died  for 
it.  He  also  remembered  that  the  city  men  who  mur- 
dered Christ  dared  not  do  so  until  they  had  first  taken 
Him  outside  the  gates,  as  they  afterwards  took 
Stephen.     It  was  their  one  redeeming  scruple-    They 


134  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

did  wrong  but  they  dared  not  do  it  in  the  full  light  of 
public  opinion. 

Probably  John  would  say  that  we  build  our  cities 
on  a  wrong  plan.  We  want  a  seaport  or  a  factory  or 
a  mine  to  be  developed.  Some  such  commercial  aim 
is  our  objective  and  the  homes  of  the  workers  can  be 
left  to  take  care  of  themselves.  John  held  that  there 
should  be  no  cities  at  all  except  where  the  first  aim  of 
the  workers  is  worship.  His  city  is  therefore  built 
around  a  temple.  He  would  say  that  there  could  have 
been  no  American  Constitution  if  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
had  not  first  brought  into  the  new  world  their  Bible. 
He  recognized  that  Christ  is  at  present  only  obeyed  in 
the  inner  sanctuary,  that  the  outer  courts  are  still  in 
the  hands  of  the  Gentiles.  In  his  day,  as  in  ours,  few 
there  be  who  go  to  church,  and  fewer  still  who  truly 
worship  there.  But  those  few  were  the  people  whom 
John  "  measured.'* 

Catholics  and  Protestants. 

Born  and  bred  in  Syria,  John  could  not  imagine 
a  city  without  foliage  and  he  recalled  how  Zechariah 
had  written  of  two  olive  trees,  growing  in  the  city 
as  witnesses  of  God.  Through  these  trees,  the  dark 
soil,  crushed  beneath  the  pavement  or  trodden  hard 
under  the  heedless  foot  of  man,  yields  a  silent  yet 
vivid  sap  which  is  drawn  upwards  by  the  will  of  God 
Himself  and  then  poured  forth  as  oil,  through  golden 
pipes.  And  the  truth  for  Zechariah,  faced  by  the  tyr- 
anny of  Babylon,  was — Not  by  might,  nor  iy  power, 
but  by  my  Spirit,  scdth  the  Lord.  The  oil  of  the  olive 
anointed  priests  and  kings,  healed  the  sick,  and  caused 
the  face  of  the  sad  to  shine  for  joy. 

The  olive  trees  in  a  city  thus  mean  a  spiritual  soci- 


THE  TWO  OLIVE  TKEES  135 

ety,  first  founded  by  the  Christ  on  the  Mount  of  Olives, 
where  He  ascended,  and  then  spreading  throughout 
the  world.  For  John,  as  for  Zechariah,  there  were 
two  Olive  Trees, — a  duality — not  one  alone.  Both 
these  men  of  insight  realized  that  the  Father  would  be 
worshipped  and  served  by  men  of  diverse  tempers. 
Of  such  dualities,  we  have  many  examples  in  lords 
and  commons,  church  and  state,  army  and  navy,  hus- 
band and  wife.  To  John,  the  chief  duality  was  Law 
and  Prophecy.  For  thousands  of  years,  he  had  seen 
the  priest  and  the  seer  witnessing  to  Jehovah.  There 
was  Abraham  the  prophet  blessed  by  Melchizedek  the 
priest.  There  were  Moses  and  Aaron — and  so  on, 
throughout  the  entire  Hebrew  history.  Only  in 
Christ  are  priesthood  and  prophecy  perfectly  united. 
And  to  Him,  therefore,  two  witnesses  are  needed, 
still  the  priest  and  still  the  prophet,  still  the  Catholic 
and  still  the  Protestant,  each  with  an  equal  duty  to 
influence  the  world  by  God's  Spirit.  The  two  Olive 
Trees  looked  like  rivals,  but  were  really  comrades. 
As  one  grew,  so  did  the  other,  and  as  one  fell,  so  fell 
the  other  also.     And  they  shared  the  same  revival. 

Temporal  Power. 

Such  is  the  profound  wisdom  here  revealed  in  this 
vision  of  the  Two  Olive  Trees.  Not  that  Catholic  is 
to  destroy  Protestant  or  Protestant  destroy  Catholic, 
but  that  in  all  their  varied  branches  Catholics  and 
Protestants  are  to  be  commissioned  equally  to  show 
forth  the  purposes  of  the  One  Lord.  These  mstitu- 
tions,  little  as  they  sometimes  realize  it,  do  exercise  an 
authority  that  shuts  up  heaven  against  men — that 
makes  happiness  impossible.  Even  to-day,  interdict 
And  excommunication  are  terrible  punishments  and 


136  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

there  is  little  sense  of  "  blessing," — what  John  calls,  as 
Shakespeare  called  it,  "  rain  " — for  those  who  feel 
themselves  debarred  from  religion  by  a  lapse  of  morals 
and  an  uneasy  conscience.  History  records  of  those 
Olive  Trees  that,  as  foreseen  by  John,  they  should  be 
the  cause  of  strife  on  land  and  sea.  Their  armadas 
have  turned  waters  into  blood.  Their  wars  have  smit- 
ten the  people  with  every  plague.  Let  a  man  resist 
their  authority,  and  fire  did  flame  upon  him — the  fires 
of  Smithfield,  for  instance, — the  auto  da  fe — and 
there  were  indeed  many  manners  and  methods  in 
which  the  enemies  of  the  Church  were  killed.  And  the 
end  of  it  all  was  that  the  strong  Church — the  estab- 
lished church — the  Church  armed  with  temporal  power 
— the  persecuting  church,  finished  its  testimony  and 
was  swept  to  the  ground.  The  policy  of  such  churches 
was  not  Christ^s  policy.     They  had  to  be  obliterated. 

For  out  of  the  bottomless  pit  of  human  degradation 
which  the  churches  should  have  drained  of  its  iniquity, 
there  arose  the  Beast  or  living  creature, — the  revolu- 
tionist to  whom  all  churches  are  merely  the  instru- 
ments of  the  capitalist  class,  a  form  of  oppressing  the 
people,  to  be  destroyed — to  be  swept  away.  In  Russia 
and  France  and  Germany,  the  Olive  Trees  have  been 
laid  to  the  ground ;  faith  is  treated  as  the  superstition 
of  a  bygone  age;  and  as  John  did  in  fact  foretell, 
people  rejoiced  at  the  good  riddance.  Religion  has 
become  a  mere  jest  at  which  the  humorists  wax  merry 
and  moral  restraints  which  had  tormented  society  are 
gone,  as  men  think,  forever.  People  send  gifts  to  one 
another,  reserving  nothing  for  Him  from  Whom  all 
gifts  come.  There  is  a  general  good  fellowship  among 
the  fortunate  which  ignores  the  want  of  those  who  arc 
in  need.    From  the  claims  of  Him  Whom  they  will 


THE  TWO  OLIVE  TKEES  137 

not  have  to  rule  over  them,  there  is  a  great  emancipa- 
tion. 

The  Revival  Comes. 

But  there  are  certain  results.  The  cities  in  their 
greatness  sometimes  become  like  Sodom.  On  the  peo- 
ple, there  settles  too  often  a  bondage  as  of  Egypt. 
Rationalism  does  not  mean,  as  men  had  thought,  that 
there  is  in  society  a  sense  of  justice  satisfied — quite 
the  reverse.  They  who  have  attacked  the  churches 
never  seem  more  restless  than  when  the  churches  He 
dormant.  For  the  corpse  of  the  Faith  still  remains. 
Into  the  empty  and  silent  cathedrals  wander  the 
tourists,  looking  wide-eyed  at  the  edifices  which  piety 
had  designed  and  built — which  impiety  can  pull  down 
but  never  reproduce.  In  those  prostrate  Olive  Trees, 
few  suppose  for  an  instant  that  life  survives.  Few 
imagine  that  in  His  witnesses  Jesus  Christ  will  again 
rise  from  the  dead.  Yet  it  will  be  so.  What  the  Olive 
Trees  lacked  was  the  Spirit' of  God  and  when  that  Spirit 
again  enters  into  them,  it  will  mean  life  and  dignity; 
they  will  stand  upright  upon  their  feet.  A  great  fear 
will  fall  upon  men.  "What!"  they  will  say,  "then 
this  religion  really  means  something  after  all!  And 
we  must  still  reckon  with  it.  Or  if  we  fail  so  to  do,  it 
will  reckon  with  us." 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  REVIVAL  OF  THE 
CHURCHES 


AND  after  three  days  and  an  half  the  Spirit  of  iiie 
from  God  entered  into  them,  and  they  stood  upon 
their  feet ;  and  great  fear  fell  upon  them  which  saw 
them. 

And  they  heard  a  great  voice  from  heaven  saying  unto 
them,  Come  up  hither.  And  they  ascended  up  to  heaven 
in  a  cloud;  and  their  enemies  beheld  them. 

And  the  same  hour  was  there  a  great  earthquake,  and  the 
tenth  part  of  the  city  fell,  and  in  the  earthquake  were  slain 
of  men  seven  thousand:  and  the  remnant  were  affrighted, 
and  gave  glory  to  the  God  of  heaven. 

The  second  woe  is  past;  and,  behold,  the  third  woe 
Cometh  quickly. 

And  the  seventh  angel  sounded;  and  there  were  great 
voices  in  heaven,  saying,  The  kingdoms  of  this  world  are 
become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord,  and  of  his  Christ;  and 
he  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever. 

And  the  four  and  twenty  elders,  which  sat  before  God 
on  their  seats,  fell  upon  their  faces,  and  worshipped  God, 

Saying,  We  give  thee  thanks,  O  Lord  God  Almighty, 
which  art,  and  wast,  and  art  to  come;  because  thou  hast 
taken  to  thee  thy  great  power,  and  hast  reigned. 

And  the  nations  were  angry,  and  thy  wrath  is  come,  and 
the  time  of  the  dead,  that  they  should  be  judged,  and  that 
thou  shouldest  give  reward  unto  thy  servants  the  prophets, 
and  to  the  saints,  and  them  that  fear  thy  name,  small  and 
great ;  and  shouldest  destroy  them  which  destroy  the  earth. 

And  the  temple  of  God  was  opened  in  heaven,  and  there 
was  seen  in  his  temple  the  ark  of  his  testament :  and  there 
were  lightnings,  and  voices,  and  thunderings,  and  an  earth- 
quake, and  great  hail. 

— Revei^atign  II :  11-19. 


XV 

THE  REVIVAL  OF  THE  CHURCHES 

JOHN  was  one  who  had  seen  Jesus  Himself  laid  in 
the  tomb,  dead,  yet  rise  again  and  ascend  into 
heaven.  To  him,  therefore,  it  was  not  incredible  that 
the  cause  of  Christ,  though  crushed  as  those  Olive 
Trees,  should  revive  in  power  and  in  faith.  The 
Church  has  often  decayed,  often  pursued  wrong 
methods,  but  its  ruin  has  never  been  final.  It  has 
never  lasted  longer  than  half  the  week. 

Having  himself  witnessed  the  effect  of  Pentecost  on 
Jerusalem,  John  could  estimate  how  a  Church,  renew- 
ing its  witness,  would  move  a  city  which  had  become 
like  Sodom  or  Egypt.  There  would  be  the  same  great 
fear,  the  same  earthquake — men  again  declaring  that 
these  disciples  wanted  to  turn  the  world  upside  down. 
And  there  would  be  the  destruction  in  the  city  of  much 
— what  John  calls  a  tenth — the  saloons,  places  of  ill- 
resort,  even  palaces  of  undue  extravagance,  and  cer- 
tainly slums  and  sweatshops.  A  tithe  of  sheer  loss 
would  mean  nine-tenths  of  sheer  gain. 

Aristocracies  Disappear. 

It  does  not  say  precisely  that,  in  the  earthquake, 
seven  thousand  lives  of  men  would  be  lost,  but  only 
seven  thousand  names  of  men — a  curious  and  stimu- 
lating phrase.  Certain  ranks  and  callings  would  dis- 
appear— the  paraphernalia  of  aristocracy,  for  instance, 

141 


142  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

and  opium  selling,  and  the  tipsters'  craft  and  whatever 
is  condemned  by  a  true  civic  judgment.  They  who 
remained  were  affrighted — theirs  was  a  wholesome 
terror  of  an  awakened  public  opinion.  The  Church 
had  become  in  very  truth  the  conscience  of  the  State. 
For  there  was  something  about  this  inspired  com- 
pany of  the  disciples  which  was  not  of  this  world. 
At  first,  it  had  been  only  some  individual  like  John 
who  had  heard  the  command,  Come  up  hither.  But 
now  the  loud  voice  of  the  Saviour,  summoning  the 
faithful  to  a  higher  life — to  those  seats  in  heavenly 
places  with  Christ,  of  which  Paul  had  spoken  years 
before  to  the  Christians  of  those  Asian  Churches — up- 
lifted a  great  company.  These  disciples  are  not  only 
risen  from  the  dust  with  Christ,  but  with  Christ  they 
are  ascended.  They  have  attained  the  heaven,  the 
happiness,  which  in  past  years  had  seemed  in  the  air, 
far  removed  from  actuaUties,  a  mere  dream  of  the 
mystic.  For  the  very  enemies  of  the  Church  could 
now  see  that  here  were  folk  for  whom  even  heaven 
was  a  fact.  And  to  the  God  of  heaven — the  God 
Who  desires  no  dwelling  place  save  happy  homes  and 
hearts — those  very  enemies  gave  glory.  Here  was 
something  which  God  alone  could  have  accomplished. 

The  Cloud  of  God. 

For  it  was  in  a  Cloud  that  these  disciples  achieved 
their  Ascent.  Centuries  earlier  that  Cloud  had  been  a 
kind  of  Presence  above  and  beyond  the  common  peo- 
ple, a  Pillar  rising  far  aloft  of  the  Tabernacle,  reach- 
ing even  to  the  summit  of  Mount  Sinai,  which  only 
men  of  especial  holiness  like  Moses,  or  privilege  like 
Aaron,  can  enter,  and  then  but  on  rare  occasions.  But 
here  we  have  God  as  a  Cloud  Who  surrounds  us  all 


THE  KEVIYAL  OF  THE  CHUKCHES     143 

with  love  and  care  and  splendour,  and  a  safeguard,  so 
that  enemies  who  see  the  Cloud  cannot  reach  whoever 
may  be  within  it. 

In  literature  as  in  life,  there  are  interruptions  which 
help.  John  had  planned  to  write  gloomily  about  three 
woes,  each  worse  than  the  last,  but  he  found  that,  even 
in  days  of  struggle,  it  was  not  all  woe, — other  and 
happier  topics  crept  in — the  Angel  of  the  Book — the 
Measuring  of  the  City — the  Revival  of  the  Olive  Trees 
— and,  really,  before  he  knew  it,  the  second  woe  had 
passed.  It  was  less  dark  than  he  feared — only  one- 
tenth  of  the  city,  after  all,  had  suffered  and  only  seven 
thousand  names  had  been  changed.  Yet  John  could 
not  even  thus  believe  that  a  brighter  day  was  dawning. 
Behold!  he  cried,  the  third  woe  cometh  quickly, — and 
we  hold,  as  it  were,  our  breath.  We  wait — and  this 
third  woe  never  came  at  all.  Instead  of  it,  there  is  a 
song  of  triumph. 

When  the  seventh  seal  was  opened,  heaven  was 
silent  for  half  an  hour.  There  was  no  praise,  no 
prayer,  only  a  dumb  dismay.  They  could  not  hear  the 
voice  of  God  in  history;  they  had  no  voice  of  their 
own.  But  when  the  seventh  angel  sounded  his 
trumpet,  heaven  broke  loose  and  great  voices  were 
heard,  saying 

The  kingdoms  of  this  world  are  become  the 
kingdoms  of  Our  Lord,  and  of  His  Christ;  and 
He  shall  reign  forever  and  ever. 

In  the  revival  of  the  churches,  they  saw  the  tri- 
umph of  the  Cross  in  all  human  affairs  and  the  four- 
and-twenty  elders,  falling  on  their  faces,  thanked  God 
that  He  had  taken  to  Himself  His  great  power,  and 


144  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

had  reigned,  and  had  met  the  anger  of  nations  by  His 
righteous  wrath  against  wrong,  and  had  judged  the 
quick  and  the  dead.  The  temple  was  thrown  open  and 
all  could  see  the  unshaken  ark  of  the  covenant  within 
— ever  there  but  too  often  concealed.  Religion,  too 
long  a  mystery,  was  frankly  discussed,  analyzed,  criti- 
cized, argued  out,  by  all  classes  of  people.  It  was 
tested  by  publicity. 

It  was  a  great  and,  it  seemed,  the  final  climax — the 
completed  victory  of  good  over  evil.  But,  in  the  very 
echo  of  the  anthem,  was  heard  the  low,  distant  rever- 
beration of  thunder  on  the  horizon — was  seen  the 
far-off  flash  of  eternal  artillery — ^the  shouts  of  men  in 
strife  also  reached  the  ear- — and  great  hail,  as  of  shrap- 
nel and  bullets.  Away,  in  the  distance,  the  war  was 
still  waged.  There  were  kingdoms  still  to  be  con- 
quered. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
EVERYWOMAN 


AND  there  appeared  a  great  wonder  in  heaven;  a 
woman  clothed  with  the  sun,  and  the  moon  under 
her   feet,  and  upon  her  head  a  crown  of  twelve 
stars : 

And  she  being  with  child  cried,  travailing  in  birth,  and 
pained  to  be  delivered. 

And  there  appeared  another  wonder  in  heaven;  and  be- 
hold a  great  red  dragon,  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns, 
and  seven  crowns  upon  his  heads. 

And  his  tail  drew  the  third  part  of  the  stars  of  heaven, 
and  did  cast  them  to  the  earth:  and  the  dragon  stood  be- 
fore the  woman  which  was  ready  to  be  delivered,  for  to  de- 
vour her  child  as  soon  as  it  was  born. 

And  she  brought  forth  a  man  child,  who  was  to  rule  all 
nations  with  a  rod  of  iron:  and  her  child  was  caught  up 
unto  God,  and  to  his  throne. 

And  the  woman  fled  into  the  wilderness,  where  she  hath 
a  place  prepared  of  God,  that  they  should  feed  her  there 
a  thousand  two  hundred  and  threescore  days. 

And  there  was  war  in  heaven :  Michael  and  his  angels 
fought  against  the  dragon;  and  the  dragon  fought  and  his 
angels, 

And  prevailed  not ;  neither  was  their  place  found  any 
more  in  heaven. 

******* 

And  when  the  dragon  saw  that  he  was  cast  unto  the 
earth,  he  persecuted  the  woman  which  brought  forth  the 
man  child. 

And  to  the  woman  were  given  two  wings  of  a  great 
eagle,  that  she  might  fly  into  the  wilderness,  into  her  place, 
where  she  Is  nourished  for  a  time,  and  times,  and  half  a 
time,  from  the  face  of  the  serpent. 

And  the  serpent  cast  out  of  his  mouth  water  as  a  flood, 
after  the  woman,  that  he  might  cause  her  to  be  carried 
away  of  the  flood. 

And  the  earth  helped  the  woman,  and  the  earth  opened 
her  mouth,  and  swallowed  up  the  flood  which  the  dragon 
cast  out  of  his  mouth. 

And  the  dragon  was  wroth  with  the  woman,  and  went  to 
make  war  with  the  remnant  of  her  seed,  which  keep  the 
commandments  of  God,  and  have  the  testimony  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

— Revei<ation  12 : 1-17. 


XVI 

EVERYWOMAN 

WHEN  first  I  read  about  this  resplendent  woman, 
clothed  with  the  sun  and  adorned  with  a  tiara 
of  twelve  stars,  I  assumed  with  others  that  so  glorious 
a  Lady  must  have  been  the  Church,  the  very  Bride  of 
Christ,  pursued  by  the  Neros  of  the  Roman  Empire; 
or  even  the  Virgin  Mary  herself,  driven  through  the 
wilderness  into  Egypt  by  the  murderous  designs  of 
Herod  the  King.  Doubtless  such  ideas  were  in  the 
mind  of  John,  yet  somehow  they  did  not  seem  to  be 
in  themselves  a  full  and  adequate  interpretation  of  an 
allegory  so  impressive. 

A  Memory  of  Motherhood. 

This  most  noble  Queen,  whose  mere  appearance 
caused  wonder  in  heaven,  means  more  for  us  surely 
than  any  limited  or  historical  applqation,  however 
dignified.  It  is  worth  noting  that  of  all  the  apostles, 
James  and  John  alone  had  a  mother  mentioned  in  the 
Gospels.  She  was,  of  course,  an  ambitious  woman 
who  wanted  her  sons  to  be  the  statesmen  of  the  king- 
dom, to  sit  the  one  on  the  right  and  the  other  on  the 
left  of  the  Christ  on  His  throne,  but  at  least  she  took 
an  interest  in  the  aims  and  ideals  of  her  boys  and  it 
was  Jesus  Himself  Who  paid  her  the  highest  compli- 

147 


148  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

ment  when  He  chose  John,  whom  she  had  brought  up, 
to  be  the  guardian  of  His  Mother  in  her  declining 
years.  What  John  owed  to  that  companionship  ap- 
pears in  much  that  he  wrote  and  especially  in  this  pic- 
ture that  he  gives  us  of  what  in  these  days  we  should 
call  everywoman — that  is  woman  the  wide  world  over, 
the  eternal  mother  of  children  in  every  age,  your  own 
mother,  your  own  wife  and  your  sister  and  daughter. 

For  generations  she  had  lived  behind  a  veil,  re- 
strained by  custom,  but  now  at  last  she  appears,  stands 
forth,  votes,  sits  in  Parliament  and  in  Congress,  works 
in  a  factory  and  an  office,  practices  medicine,  beats  the 
Senior  Wrangler  at  Mathematics,  drives  her  own  au- 
tomobile, manages  her  own  clubs,  plays  men's  games, 
owns  and  administers  property.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
she  decks  her  hair  with  those  twelve  stars.  Where 
would  the  patriarchs  and  prophets  and  apostles  have 
been  if  mothers  had  not  borne  them,  reared  them,  clad 
them,  guided  them  and  taught  them  ?  It  is  no  wonder 
that  she  is  clothed  with  the  sun.  What  more  alluring 
thing  can  the  light  linger  upon  than  the  smile  of  a 
mother  over  her  child,  which  dominated  the  art  of  the 
Middle  Ages  and  still  survives  in  the  romance  of  to- 
day? What  need  had  such  a  woman  as  this  of  the 
moon  ?  Where^e  is,  there  can  be  no  darkness.  Let 
her  tread  it  under  her  feet. 

Greater  than  any  church  is  Everywoman.  More 
divine  than  any  ceremony  is  what  in  duty  she  does. 
Every  life  that  she  bears  is  at  risk  of  her  own. 
Through  suffering  alone  is  her  child  made  perfect. 
This  at  any  rate  is  no  symbol.  It  is  the  big  fact  in 
every  family.  The  people  who  try  to  symbolize  it  live 
too  often  in  books  and  organizations  and  too  little  in 
the  nursery  and  the  sick  room. 


EYEEYWOMAN  149 

Dress  and  the  Dressmaker. 

As  she  emerges  from  her  age-long  obscurity,  Every- 
woman  encounters  at  once  a  Dragon  which  is  as  great 
a  wonder  of  iniquity  as  she  is  a  wonder  of  goodness. 
Like  the  Roman  Empire  in  John's  days,  the  Dragon  is 
red  with  the  blood  of  victims  slain  for  reasons  of 
state.  He  has  seven  heads,  being  a  most  astute  dragon, 
and  ten  horns,  being  a  most  brutal  dragon,  and  on  his 
heads  are  seven  crowns,  showing  that  he  is  also  a  most 
royal  and  pageant-loving  dragon.  Very  royal  and 
very  pageant  loving,  yet  with  all  his  etiquette,  this 
dragon  displays  no  chivalry  when  it  comes  to  a  matter 
of  justice  for  Every  woman.  If  she  has  a  title,  that  is 
a  different  affair.  If  she  wears  a  pretty  dress,  well 
and  good.  But  if  she  only  makes  the  dress,  she  re- 
ceives scant  courtesy  from  the  Dragon,  despite  his 
seven  crowns.  The  Dragon  has  a  tail.  It  is  an  influ- 
ence that  sweeps  around  society,  drawing  to  itself  a 
third  part  of  the  stars  and  casting  them  to  the  earth. 
In  John's  language  the  stars  were  churches  and  their 
fall  meant  that  religion  became  secular  under  the  in- 
fluence of  fashion.  Attendance  at  church  was  a  mere 
church  parade  for  the  exhibition  of  wealth  and  beauty. 
Preachers  were  worldly  and  popes  yearned  for  tem- 
poralities while  endowments  developed  into  snares. 

Birth  Control  and  Child  Neglect. 

This  Red  Dragon  is  thus  our  pagan,  war-waging, 
money- snatching  civilization,  in  which  we  see  first  an 
emancipation  of  women  as  we  call  it,  and  secondly  a 
deadly  menace  co  motherhood.  At  the  very  birth,  the 
Dragon  would  devour  the  child.  It  battens  on  infant 
mortality.  It  builds  apartments  where  there  is  room 
for  everything  except  the  cradle      It  designs  cities 


160  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

without  playgrounds  and  substitutes  hotels  for  homes. 
It  limits  the  size  of  families  and  so  reduces  the  birth 
rate.  It  draws  profits  from  the  toil  of  women  who 
are  with  child  and  grudges  rest  and  food  to  the  nurs- 
ing mother.  It  neglects  childish  ailments,  puts  the 
child  to  early  work,  or  allows  it  to  run  wild  in  the 
streets,  and  then  imprisons  the  first  offender  for  crimes 
which  are  the  fault  of  their  persecutors.  No,  no,  this 
parable  of  Everywoman  is  not  to  be  dismissed  as  an 
ecclesiastical  vision,  remote  from  to-day.  It  shows 
what  is  happening  in  our  own  streets,  by  our  door- 
steps, and  if  you  and  I  despise  these  little  ones,  let  us 
be  very  sure  that  their  lives  which  we  have  thus 
wronged  are  caught  up  to  the  very  throne  of  God. 

Baulked  of  her  true  place  as  queen  of  the  home  and 
ill-supported  as  the  mother  of  the  babe  on  which  soci- 
ety depends,  Everywoman  wanders  forth  like  Hagar 
into  the  wilderness.  Where  she  might  have  been  a 
Madonna,  she  is  reduced  to  a  machine  minder,  thank- 
ful thus  to  be  fed  by  God's  providence.  If,  however, 
she  has  few  defenders  on  earth,  in  heaven  at  any  rate 
her  wrongs  provoke  warfare.  The  chivalry  in  which 
we  are  often  lacking  sweeps  Michael  and  his  angels 
into  a  tournament  in  which  every  heart  of  knightly 
courage  goes  forth  to  fight  for  Everywoman.  Inch  by 
inch,  the  Dragon  is  driven  from  heaven,  so  learning 
that  there  is  no  place  for  such  as  he  in  any  region  of 
human  happiness.  The  fashions  are  changed  and  self- 
ishness is  run  to  earth. 

Stirring  up  Strife. 

In  the  strife  we  learn  the  devil's  name.  It  is  Satan, 
the  deceiver,  the  liar,  the  author  of  every  evil  lure,  of 
every  unworthy  trick  of  fashion,  of  every  mean  and 


EYERYWOMAN  151 

cunning  artifice.  And  Satan's  particular  artifice  is  to 
accuse  one  brother  to  another.  In  every  walk  of  life 
he  spreads  the  doctrine  of  Cain,  which  is  that  men 
born  of  the  same  Everywoman  are  enemies,  rivals, 
competitors,  rather  than  comrades  and  friends. 
Brotherhood  and  Motherhood  are  one,  and  when  na- 
tion is  aroused  against  nation,  each  side  bombards  the 
cradles  of  the  other.  Once  let  men  remember  that 
they  are  all  of  one  birth  and  you  may  then  cry  out  that 
now  is  salvation  come,  for  Satan's  time  is  short.  The 
very  violence  of  our  wars  shows  this.  War  is  just 
working  itself  out  to  a  sheer  impossibility.  Men  are 
finding  out  that  war  is  not  as  they  imagined,  a  struggle 
between  the  strong,  but  the  obliteration  of  the  weak  on 
both  sides,  and  that  soldiers  cannot  shed  one  another's 
blood  without  shedding  afresh  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 

Bereft  of  child  and  home,  Everywoman  is  still  pur- 
sued by  the  Dragon,  who  pours  forth  floods  in  the 
hope  of  carrying  her  off  her  feet.  Trivial  literature, 
an  unworthy  drama,  endless  petty  tasks,  all  the  arti- 
fices whereby  the  soul  is  discouraged  are  ruthlessly 
imposed,  and  when  it  seems  that  Everywoman  must  be 
submerged  in  the  current,  she  discovers  that  she  has 
angels'  wings,  that  she  can  rise  above  the  routine 
whether  of  drudgery  or  of  pleasure,  escape  from  silli- 
ness and  from  serfdom,  and  be  nourished  in  her  spirit 
during  this  time  times  and  a  half,  this  three  and  one- 
half  days  of  the  week  when  the  drama  of  life  is  still 
incomplete.  The  floods  of  Satan  do  follow  but  in 
vain.  They  are  absorbed  by  the  soil  and  so  swallowed 
up.  The  native  common  sense  of  the  woman — her 
contact  with  duty — saves  her  from  the  rubbish  with 
which  it  is  sought  to  overwhelm  her. 

So  defeated,  Satan  discovers  his  mistake  in  imagin- 


152  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

ing  that  woman  is  the  weaker  sex.  He  is  wroth  to 
acknowledge  the  blunder.  He  therefore  turns  his  at- 
tention to  men,  every  one  of  whom  after  all  had  a 
mother  once.  To  wound  the  triumphant  mother 
through  her  son  is  the  last  revengeful  artifice  of  the 
ultimately  evil  one.  And  in  particular  he  concentrates 
upon  the  best  of  men,  upon  those  who  keep  the  com- 
mandments of  God  and  have  the  testimony  of  Jesus. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
THE  BEASTS  ARISE 


AND  I  stood  upon  the  sand  of  the  sea,  and  saw  a 
beast  rise  up  out  of  the  sea,  having  seven  heads 
and  ten  horns,  and  upon  his  horns  ten  crowns,  and 
upon  his  heads  the  name  of  blasphemy. 

And  the  beast  which  I  saw  was  Hke  unto  a  leopard,  and 
his  feet  were  as  the  feet  of  a  bear,  and  his  mouth  as  the 
mouth  of  a  Hon:  and  the  dragon  gave  him  his  power,  and 
his  seat,  and  great  authority. 

And  I  saw  one  of  his  heads,  as  it  were  wounded  to 
death;  and  his  deadly  wound  was  healed:  and  all  the 
world  wondered  after  the  beast. 

And  they  worshipped  the  dragon  which  gave  power  unto 
the  beast :  and  they  worshipped  the  beast,  saying,  Who  is 
Hke  unto  the  beast?  who  is  able  to  make  war  with  him? 

And  there  was  given  unto  him  a  mouth  speaking  great 
things  and  blasphemies ;  and  power  was  given  unto  him  to 
continue  forty  and  two  months. 

******* 

And  it  was  given  unto  him  to  make  war  with  the  saints, 
and  to  overcome  them  :  and  power  was  given  him  over  all 
kindreds,  and  tongues,  and  nations. 

******* 
And  I  beheld  another  beast  coming  up  out  of  the  earth ; 
and  he  had  two  horns  like  a  lamb,  and  he  spake  as  a 
dragon. 

And  he  exerciseth  all  the  power  of  the  first  beast  before 
him. 

******* 
And  he  doeth  great  wonders,   so  that  he  maketh  fire 
come  down  from  heaven  on  the  earth  in  the  sight  of  men, 
And  deceiveth  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth  by  the  means 
of  those  miracles  which  he  had  power  to  do. 

******* 

And  he  had  power  to  give  life  unto  the  image  of  the 
beast,  that  the  image  of  the  beast  should  both  speak,  and 
cause  that  as  many  as  would  not  worship  the  image  of 
the  beast  should  be  killed. 

And  he  causeth  all,  both  small  and  great,  rich  and  poor, 
free  and  bond,  to  receive  a  mark  in  their  right  hand,  or  in 
their  foreheads: 

And  that  no  man  might  buy  or  sell,  save  he  that  had  the 
mark,  or  the  name  of  the  beast,  or  the  number  of  his  name. 

— Revei^ation  13 : 1-17. 


XVII 

THE  BEASTS  ARISE 

I  SHALL  now  be  asked  pointblank  what  any  sensible 
man  in  these  days  can  possibly  find  in  these  visions 
of  beasts  and  dragons  and  horns  that  will  either  inter- 
est his  mind  or  help  him  to  solve  the  problem  of  his  ex- 
istence. Unless  I  am  able  to  meet  this  challenge  fairly 
and  squarely  and  without  one  hint  of  evasion,  I  may  as 
well  admit,  as  a  journalist,  that  certain  pages  of  the 
Bible  had  best  be  blue-pencilled,  once  for  all,  and  rele- 
gated to  the  dust-heap  of  forgotten  things.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  I  can  state  with  sincerity  that,  so  far  from 
finding  these  visions  dull,  I  rather  feel  as  if  I  were  hot 
on  the  scent,  like  a  detective  seeking  a  clue  to  some 
mystery,  nor  have  I  ever  enjoyed  any  book  as  much  as 
I  am  enjoying  this  Apocalypse.  I  do  not  claim  that 
this  sensation  of  sheer  pleasure  is  particularly  pious. 
On  the  contrary,  it  is  entirely  human. 

However  astounding  may  be  this  story  of  the  Beasts, 
somehow  or  other,  a  man  called  John  of  Patmos  came 
to  write  it.  Mad  or  sane,  he  got  the  words  put  down 
on  paper.  Mad  or  sane,  scholars  have  translated  them 
into  every  language  on  earth,  and  millions  on  millions 
of  people,  mad  or  sane,  have  read  them.  For  myself, 
I  am  not  at  all  surprised  that  John  was  so  fond  of  the 
sea  and  the  sand.  Jesus  also  used  to  walk  thus  by  the 
Lake  and  it  was  there  that  He  made  a  friend  of  Joha 

155 


156  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

To  John,  as  to  Jesus,  and,  indeed,  all  Jews,  sand  and 
sea  were  symbols,  as  familiar  as  flags  and  other  sym- 
bols of  that  kind  are  to  us.  The  sand  recalled  Abra- 
ham's seed— 'the  people  with  faith — each  person  sepa- 
rate as  a  grain  from  others — yet  the  whole  forming  a 
solid  floor  on  which  you  can  rely.  The  sea,  however, 
has  no  such  firm  consistency.  To  John,  as  to  his  col- 
league, Jude,  it  meant  any  society  which  has  no  faith, 
but  is  tossed  about  with  any  gust  of  wind,  forming 
parties  which  change  and  disappear,  as  one  moment 
passes  into  the  next.  The  sea  was  thus  this  pathless, 
restess  paganism,  modern  or  ancient,  and  this  is  why 
in  the  city  of  God,  when  fully  built,  there  will  be  no 
sea. 

The  Rise  of  Empires. 

The  disturbed  waters  of  human  life,  like  the  ocean 
itself,  breed  organisms  or  *'  Beasts."  Out  of  the  un- 
fathomed  depths  of  our  desires  and  our  needs  emerge 
institutions — Living  Creatures — of  which  undoubtedly 
it  was  the  Roman  Empire  that  confronted  John. 
Abraham  Lincoln  used  to  say  that  no  nation  is  good 
enough  to  govern  another,  and  he  was  right.  No 
father  is  good  enough  to  rear  children.  No  teacher  is 
good  enough  to  instruct  a  class.  No  author  is  good 
enough  to  write  books.  No  employer  is  good  enough 
to  order  workmen.  It  is  a  grim  business — this  rule  of 
man  by  man — and  it  is  a  sobering  comment  on  Old 
Rome  in  her  glory  that  as  a  simple  man  of  the  people, 
who  had  never  held  political  office,  John  should  have 
likened  her  boasted  institutions  to  a  Beast  of  Prey,  of 
hideous  and  antediluvian  proportions.  That  is  a  dis 
covery  which,  reading  newspapers,  I  find  most  perti- 
nent. 


THE  BEASTS  AEISE  15Y 

Historians  have  marvelled  at  the  seven  heads  and 
ten  horns  of  European  civilization.  Here  was  an  irre- 
sistible combination  of  intellect  and  material  force.  It 
mattered  not  that,  from  time  to  time,  some  head  re- 
ceived a  deadly  wound.  Carthage  might  strike  at 
Rome.  Mohammed  might  reach  the  gates  of  Vienna. 
Britain  might  lose  her  American  Colonies.  Spain 
might  fall.  Germany  might  be  humiliated.  But  the 
nations  of  Africa  and  Asia,  watching  these  calamities, 
would  still  ask  one  another — Is  there  ever  anything 
like  this  Beast?  Who  of  us  will  he  able  to  make  war 
on  him?  Here,  indeed,  was  the  supremacy  of  science 
in  battle — the  glory  of  crowns  and  kingdoms. 

Their  Cruelty  and  Display. 

But  John  examined  the  Living  Creature  more 
closely,  and  he  was  not  reassured.  Why,  he  ex- 
claimed, it  has  the  body  of  a  leopard — the  feet  of  a 
bear — and  the  mouth  of  a  lion!  At  heart,  it  is  a  wild 
beast.  The  leopard  springs.  The  bear  crushes.  And 
the  Hon  devours.  You  have  there — first  aggression, 
then  tyranny,  and  finally  plunder  or  taxation, — the 
three  characteristics  of  imperialism. 

Every  nation  is  governed  as  it  deserves.  This  beast 
was  not  imposed  on  the  sea — it  arose  out  of  the  sea. 
If  it  was  corrupt  and  grasping  and  cruel,  it  was  be- 
cause such  was  the  nature  of  the  spawn  in  those 
waters.  Institutions  are  the  express  product  of  men's 
thoughts,  and  nothing  is  here  said  about  the  pedigree 
of  the  beast,  except  that  one  thing — the  ocean  of  life 
was  its  origin.  Be  it  republican — be  it  royal — be  it 
communist,  the  Beast  could  not  have  existed  a  day,  ex- 
cept by  popular  consent. 

The  animal  was  amply  decorated.     On  every  horn 


158  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

was  a  crown,  the  ruthless  militarism  was  concealed 
beneath  pageantry  and  display, — the  glitter  of  a  court 
— medals — ribands — fashion.  But  these  artifices  did 
not  deceive  John.  With  a  calm  and  terrible  de- 
meanour, this  last  of  the  Hebrew  prophets  listened  to 
what  was  said  by  the  Beast — noted  the  names  which 
the  Beast  assumed — and  pronounced  the  whole  busi- 
ness a  blasphemy.  Yet  John  was  no  anarchist.  His 
was  to  be  the  loftiest  ideal  of  civic  law  ever  put  upon 
paper.  But  he  recognized  that  through  social  institu- 
tions, however  impressive,  the  Serpent  may  utter  de- 
ception. When  a  man  sneers  at  honesty  in  public  life 
he  blasphemes  God's  name.  When  practical  statesmen 
ignore  missions  and  despise  churches,  they  blaspheme 
God's  tabernacle.  When  diplomatists  forget  the  gal- 
lant dead  who  gave  their  lives  for  righteousness,  they 
blaspheme  them  that  live  in  God's  heaven. 

Commerce  Develops. 

This  evil  thing  did  not  last  forever.  Only  for  forty- 
two  months,  or  three  and  a  half  years — just  half  of 
the  mystical  week — does  the  Beast  flourish.  But  his 
was  nqne  the  less  a  terrible  career  while  it  lasted. 
Frankly  opposing  the  saints,  he  overcame  them.  In 
the  counsels  of  statesmen,  the  teachings  of  Christ  had 
no  influence  at  all.  Yet,  even  here,  things  were  work- 
ing together  for  good.  The  influence  of  the  Beast  was 
bringing  all  kindreds  and  tongues  and  nations  into 
contact  and,  even  by  a  harsh  discipline,  mankind  was 
finding  in  sorrow  one  home  and  one  family. 

The  military  civilization  could  not  last.  Communi- 
ties organized  for  slaughter  must  themselves  be  slain 
of  the  sword.  Empires,  reducing  others  to  captivity, 
must  be  themselves  led  captive.     The  old  Beast  be 


THE  BEASTS  AKISE  169 

came  senile  and  a  new  creature  arose,  as  powerful  but 
less  pretentious.  It  wore  no  crowns,  but  represented 
an  improved  kind  of  paganism — quiet,  scientific,  as- 
toundingly  inventive,  so  that  its  aeroplanes  and  the 
like,  seemed  to  be  great  wonders.  It  was  a  creature 
that  could  even  make  fire  come  down  from  heaven, 
that  could  explode  a  depth  bomb  by  means  of  a  wire- 
less impulse  of  electricity,  so  dazzling  men's  minds 
with  the  miracle  of  modern  progress  in  the  applied 
sciences.     This  second  Beast  was  Commerce. 

Old  Forms  Preserved. 

Every  power  exercised  formerly  by  monarchs  and 
nobles  and  soldiers  is  transferred  to  the  capitalist  and 
the  merchant  and  the  trade  union  and  the  cooperative 
society.  Yet,  with  a  shrewdness  that  is  almost  un- 
canny, if  I  may  employ  such  a  word,  John  warns  us 
that  Commerce  will  endeavour  to  maintain  the  form 
or  image  of  the  old  regime,  the  etiquette  of  fashion, 
which  is  exactly  what  is  happening.  Men  become  rich 
and  buy  peerages  or  marry  their  daughters  into  titled 
families  or  discover  hitherto  unsuspected  coats  of 
arms.  The  former  aristocracy  of  birth  and  military 
power  thus  lives  again  in  a  new  aristocracy  of  wealth 
and  industrial  power  so  that  even  in  Moscow,  you  find 
the  more  exclusive  ladies  of  the  Bolshevist  Court  rid- 
ing about  in  the  best  automobiles  and  wearing  the  most 
expensive  furs. 

Capital  and  Labour. 

The  tyranny  of  Commerce  may  be  actually  more 
exacting  on  the  individual  than  the  despotism  of  the 
old  kings.  Here  is  a  system  from  which  nobody, 
great  or  small,  free  or  bond,  rich  or  poor,  can  escape* 


160  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

If  you  are  to  buy  and  if  you  are  to  sell,  you  must  be 
part  of  the  system,  which  will  inevitably  leave  its  mark 
on  your  right  hand  and  your  forehead,  on  your  service 
and  your  ideals.  The  system  is  deceptive.  It  offers 
men  happiness  when  it  has  no  happiness  to  offer.  The 
result  is  unrest.  Rich  men  try  to  be  richer.  Poor 
men  go  on  strike.  Neither  rich  nor  poor  know  what  it 
is  that  they  lack,  which  need  is,  as  we  shall  see,  simply 
a  new  vision  of  the  Lamb  on  the  mountain. 

For  by  another  daring  stroke  of  insight,  John  real- 
ized that  the  institution  of  modern  Commerce  would 
have,  not  seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  but  only  just  two 
horns,  and  these  quite  enough.  He  had  seen  his  own 
father  in  the  boat  on  the  shores  of  Galilee,  mending  the 
nets  with  the  hired  servants,  and  to  him  mastership  and 
service  were  the  essentials  of  industry.  We  use  our 
own  terms  for  the  old  relation,  and  *"  Capital  '  and 
"  Labour  "  are  the  two  horns  on  which  all  the  opera- 
tions of  supply  and  demand  depend.  Capital  and 
Labour  are  part  of  the  same  machine  and  neither  can 
act  without  the  other.  Each  may  control  the  indi- 
vidual unfairly.  The  monopolist  may  say.  You  shall 
not  buy  except  from  me.  And  the  trade  union  may 
answer.  You  shall  not  work  except  on  my  terms.  On 
one  side  as  on  the  other,  you  may  have  a  complete  foi^ 
getfulness  of  Him  Who  cried.  Ho,  every  one  that 
thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  water,  and  he  that  hath  no 
money;  come  ye,  buy  and  eat;  yea,  come,  buy  wine  and 
milk  without  money,  and  without  price. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
THE  ARITHMETIC  OF  IT 


HERE  is  wisdom.    Let  him  that  hath  understanding 
count  the  number  of  the  beast :   for  it  is  the  nimiber 
of  a  man;  and  his  number  is  six  hundred  three- 
score and  six. 

— Revei^atign  13 :  18. 


N 


XVIII 
THE  ARITHMETIC  OF  IT 

YOU  will  now  ask  what  John  meant  by  saying  that 
the  number  of  the  Beast  was  six  hundred  and 
sixty  and  six.  He  tells  us  to  mark  this  number  well, 
and  it  is  clear  that  he  attaches  importance  to  it.  The 
Vision  contains  many  numbers.  We  read  of  the  four 
beasts,  of  the  seven  churches,  of  the  twelve  gates,  and 
so  on,  and  one  may  here  give  an  interpretation  of 
John's  arithmetic. 

To  begin  with,  he  was  an  artist.  Read  the  Ara- 
bian Nights,  and  you  will  find  that  in  the  tale  of  AH 
Baba  it  was  not  enough  for  there  to  be  many  thieves; 
the  thieves  had  to  be  forty.  For  Rudyard  Kipling,  it 
was  not  enough  to  write  poems  about  several  seas ;  the 
seas  had  to  be  seven.  And  when  wise  men  came  to  the 
cradle  of  the  Christ,  mankind  felt  that  the  story  lacked 
something  unless  their  number  was  precisely  three. 
Challenge  the  numerals  of  this  Vision  and  you  wiU 
find  yourself  up  against  the  universal  instinct  of  the 
ballad  singer  who  from  age  to  age  has  woven  the  tap- 
estries of  romance.  In  no  day  more  than  our  own 
have  numbers  been  more  widely  used  as  symbols. 
Dine  at  a  vast  hotel  that  towers  over  New  York  and 
ask  for  a  lady  in  box  thirteen.  You  will  find  that  she 
is  sitting  in  Twelve  A.  My  own  office  is  situated  in  a 
building  from  which  floor  thirteen  is  missing  because 
the  offices  thereon  could  not  have  been  let.     You  call 

163 


164  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

it  superstition,  and  so  it  is,  but  what  is  the  supersti'- 
tion?  It  is  the  subconscious  echo  of  an  original  hor- 
ror,— the  horror  over  a  supper  party  where  thirteen 
men  included  both  the  Christ  and  the  Iscariot.  Never 
has  Freemasonry  been  stronger  than  it  is  to-day,  and 
in  Washington,  D.  C,  you  will  find  a  Temple  of  the 
Scottish  Rite,  where  an  elaborate  architecture  is  subor- 
dinate to  the  number  thirty-three. 

By  the  mystery  of  numbers,  generations  uncountable 
have  been  fascinated.  Of  all  the  tales  of  Edgar  Allan 
Poe  perhaps  the  most  popular  is  The  Gold  Bug,  and 
why?  Because  Poe  employed  the  artifice  of  sustain- 
ing interest  in  a  cryptogram  which  he  made  the  clue 
to  great  treasure.  In  certain  stories  of  adventure  by 
Rider  Haggard,  and  in  the  detective  masterpieces  of 
Conan  Doyle,  a  few  words  on  a  slip  of  paper  have 
whetted  curiosity.  To  find  things  out,  to  decipher  the 
unknown, — it  is  the  very  essence  of  imagination.  The 
trait  to  which  these  novelists  appealed  is  akin  to  the 
wonder  aroused  by  the  Delphic  Oracle,  by  the  secret 
passage  in  an  ancient  castle,  by  historic  mysteries  like 
the  diamond  necklace  of  Queen  Marie  Antoinette,  by 
the  labours  of  scientists  who  by  searching  hope  to  find 
out  what  one  day  they  will  know  to  be  God.  What- 
ever man  has  dreamed,  that  will  man  seek  to  interpret. 
Whatever  mountain  man  has  discerned,  that  will  he 
endeavour  to  cHmb.  Whatever  distance  he  has  con- 
ceived, be  it  to  the  ultimate  star  in  Orion,  that  distance 
will  he  try  to  measure. 

Three 

Reading  the  numerals  In  John's  Vision,  we  note  first 
that  THREE  is  divine.  The  ancient  Egyptians  liked  to 
have  three  deities  in  their  temples.     Man  is  himself 


THE  ARITHMETIC  OF  IT  165 

trinity.  I  am  a  father.  I  am  a  son.  And  I  am  a 
spirit.  Put  capitals  to  Father,  Son  and  Spirit,  and  you 
reach  God. 

Four. 

Four  suggests  the  points  of  a  compass,  north,  south, 
east  and  west.  We  read  of  the  four  corners  of  the 
earth  and  of  the  four  walls  to  the  Holy  City.  When 
four  angels  hold  back  four  winds,  it  means  universal 
tranquillity.  And  the  four  Living  Creatures  around 
the  throne  of  God  represent  Creation,  the  entire  world 
of  living  and  breathing  animal  activity. 

Twelve. 

Now  take  the  figure  three  and  multiply  it  by  four, 
and  you  have  twelve.  Here  you  arrive  at  the  idea  of  a 
Creation  into  which  God  has  entered.  You  have  some- 
thing that  has  been  secular  but  has  become  spiritual. 
Thus  you  have  the  twelve  tribes  of  a  chosen  Israel,  the 
twelve  chosen  apostles,  the  twelve  stars  around  the 
head  of  the  eternal  woman,  the  twelve  gates  to  the  city, 
which  being  holy  is  twelve  thousand  furlongs  every 
way,  and  twelve  times  twelve  cubits  high,  while  the 
number  of  the  redeemed  are  twelve  times  twelve  thou- 
sand, led  by  twice  twelve  elders, — not  apostles  merely 
but  twice  that  number,  so  as  to  include  those  blessed 
who  not  having  seen  with  Thomas  the  print  of  the 
nails  in  His  hands,  have  yet  believed — women  as  well 
as  men. 

Ten. 

Ten  is  the  secular  digit.  Mention  it  and  your 
thoughts  turn  to  the  decimal  system,  to  the  multiplica- 
tion table,  to  ledgers  and  budgets  and  statistics  and  as- 


166  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

tronomical  calculations.  On  your  fingers  and  on  your 
toes  you  count  in  tens,  and  a  tenth,  or  tithe,  is  the  tax 
that  you  pay.  Ten  pieces  of  silver  were  in  the  parable 
the  housewife's  allowance  from  her  husband.  The 
tribes  that  broke  away  from  Jerusalem  were  ten,  and 
they  are  to-day  that  Judaism  which  is  lost  to  the  relig- 
ious destiny  of  the  chosen  people.  The  millennium  of  a 
thousand  years  is  thus  a  period  of  political  law  and 
order  in  the  world,  in  which  nations  live  at  peace  but 
without  a  personal  devotion  to  the  Christ.  Such  mil- 
lennium therefore  must  break  down,  as  a  millennium 
did  in  1914.  As  long  as  Satan  is  abroad  in  men's  hearts 
we  may  have  spells  of  civil  tranquillity  but  we  have 
yet  to  reach  the  golden  city.  A  Beast  with  ten  horns 
is  dependent  on  secular  force.  And  an  army  of  two 
hundi;f  a  thousand  thousand  is,  again,  an  unconsecrated 
army,  quite  different  in  purpose  from  the  redeemed, 
who  are  reckoned  by  twelves.  The  raising  of  tens  into 
millions  indicates  how  immense  was  the  army.  And 
the  forty  furlongs  of  bloodshed  around  the  doomed 
city  which  slew  the  Olive  Trees  contrasts  with  the 
sacred  twelves  by  which  was  measured  the  New  Jeru- 
salem. 

Seven. 

Seven  is  the  perfect  number.  In  every  week,  it  is 
the  seventh  day  that  completes  and  hallows  the  other 
six.  You  do  not  perfectly  forgive  your  brother  unless 
you  forgive  him  unto  seventy  times  seven.  Seven 
times  did  Elijah's  servant  scan  the  horizon  ere  he  saw 
a  cloud  rise  like  unto  a  man's  hand.  Seven  times  must 
Naaman  bathe  in  the  Jordan  ere  his  leprosy  would  be 
cleansed.  There  were  seven  churches  in  Asia,  seven 
lamps  on  seven  lampstands,  and  seven  words  by  out 


THE  AEITHMETIC  OF  IT  167 

Saviour  as  He  suffered  on  the  Cross.  Seven  heads  to 
a  Beast  signify  complete  knowledge — a  perfect  intel- 
lectual efficiency.  If,  then,  John  tells  of  some  terrible 
creature  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  one  gets 
the  idea  of  some  modern  state,  with  a  head  to  think, 
and  with  a  horn  to  push,  a  sevenfold  or  perfect  intelli- 
gence combined  with  an  elaborate  power  to  rule,  just 
such  a  state  as  the  Roman  Empire  or  as  Germany  be- 
fore the  war,  or  as  any  country  may  be  after  the  war 
in  which  there  is  dependence  on  efficiency  alone, 
whether  of  brain  or  of  muscle. 

Six. 

Six  is  the  number  that  just  falls  short  of  seven. 
The  spearhead  of  Goliath  weighed  six  hundred  shekels, 
his  height  was  six  cubits  and  a  span.  He  was  he  liv- 
ing embodiment  of  imperialism  and  courage,  who  had 
still  to  learn  that  imperialism  is  not  enough.  By  taking 
thought,  he  had  just  failed  to  add  that  seventh  cubit  to 
his  stature. 

Six  Hundred  and  Sixty-six. 

So  approached,  the  oft-quoted  number  of  the  beast 
which  has  puzzled  so  many  learned  commentators  al- 
most translates  itself.  Here  you  have  an  organism 
that  includes  rich  and  poor,  small  and  great,  free  and 
bond,  which  sets  its  mark  on  the  right  hands  and  on 
the  foreheads  of  men,  branding  their  service  and 
branding  their  ideals,  even  settling  what  they  shall  buy 
and  what  they  shall  sell,  and  the  number  of  the  organ- 
ism is  six  hundred  and  sixty  and  six.  It  is  a  civiliza- 
tion, wonderful,  elaborate,  scientific,  which,  however, 
just  falls  short  of  God,  a  society  where  there  is  labour 
without  prayer,  culture  without  Scripture,  songs  with- 


168  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

out  Psalms,  rules  without  reverence.     As  Browning 
puts  it: 

"  Oh !  the  little  more,  and  how  much  it  is. 
And  the  little  less,  and  what  worlds  away." 

The  whole  aim  of  the  Good  Newsvendors  is  to 
change  that  six  hundred  and  sixty  and  six  into  seven 
hundred  and  seventy  and  seven. 

Twelve  Hundred  and  Sixty. 

So  we  may  read  the  meaning  of  various  periods  of 
time.  A  week  is  the  perfect  scope  of  evolution.  In  a 
week,  the  world  was  created.  What  Daniel  called 
"  time,  times  and  a  half  "  meant  one  plus  two  plus  a 
half  or  three  and  a  half  days  which  bisects  the  week. 
We  think  sometimes  that  the  half  week  is  the  whole. 
In  the  days  of  Elijah,  there  was  a  drought  that  lasted 
not  for  three  and  a  half  days  but  for  three  and  a  half 
years,  or  forty-two  months.  Among  the  first  disciples, 
so  fierce  was  the  persecution  that  they  had  to  endure 
that  they  counted  the  forty-two  weeks  in  days  and 
said  wearily  that  there  were  one  thousand  and  two 
hundred  and  sixty  of  these  cheerless  mornings  and  an- 
guished nights.  Light  affliction  that  is  for  a  moment! 
they  seemed  to  cry,  Why,  it  seems  to  us  to  go  on  for- 
ever. Yet  in  actual  truth,  the  half  week  was  not  the 
whole  story.  It  was  doubtless  the  battle,  but  beyond 
it  lay  the  victory. 

When  we  are  told  that  Everywoman  shall  be  fed  in 
the  wilderness  for  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  days,  that 
the  military  beast  from  the  ocean  shall  rule  for  forty- 
two  months,  and  that  the  olive  trees  shall  lie  desolate 
for  three  and  a  half  days,  we  have  the  same  symbol — 
half  of  seven  days  or  years — the  incomplete  period  of 
God's  providence, — with  the  other  half  still  to  come. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
THE  LAMB  ON  THE  MOUNT 


AND  I  looked,  and,  lo,  a  lyamb  stood  on  the  mount 
Sion,  and  with  him  an  hundred  forty  and  four 
thousand,  having  his  Father's  name  written  in  their 
foreheads. 

And  I  heard  a  voice  from  heaven,  as  the  voice  of  many 
waters,  and  as  the  voice  of  a  great  thunder:  and  I  heard 
the  voice  of  harpers  harping  with  their  harps: 

And  they  sung  as  it  were  a  new  song  before  the  throne, 
and  before  the  four  beasts,  and  the  elders:  and  no  man 
could  learn  that  song  but  the  hundred  and  forty  and  four 
thousand,  which  were  redeemed  from  the  earth. 

These  are  they  which  were  not  defiled  with  women;  for 
they  are  virgins.  These  are  they  which  follow  the  Lamb 
whithersoever  he  goeth.  These  were  redeemed  from 
among  men,  being  the  firstfruits  unto  God  and  to  the 
Lamb. 

And  in  their  mouth  was  found  no  guile:  for  they  are 
without  fault  before  the  throne  of  God. 

And  I  saw  another  angel  fly  in  the  midst  of  heaven, 
having  the  everlasting  gospel  to  preach  unto  them  that 
dwell  on  the  earth,  and  to  every  nation,  and  kindred,  and 
tongue,  and  people. 

Saying  with  a  loud  voice,  Fear  God,  and  give  glory  to 
him;  for  the  hour  of  his  judgment  is  come:  and  worship 
him  that  made  heaven,  and  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  the 
fountains  of  waters. 

And  there  followed  another  angel,  saying,  Babylon  is 
fallen,  is  fallen,  that  great  city,  because  she  made  all  na- 
tions drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  her  fornication. 

And  the  third  angel  followed  them,  saying  with  a  loud 
voice,  If  any  man  worship  the  beast  and  his  image,  and 
receive  his  mark  in  his  forehead,  or  in  his  hand, 

The  same  shall  drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  God, 
which  is  poured  out  without  mixture  into  the  cup  of  his 
indignation;  and  he  shall  be  tormented  with  fire  and  brim- 
stone in  the  presence  of  the  holy  angels,  and  in  the  presence 
of  the  Lamb : 

And  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  up  for  ever 
and  ever :  and  they  have  no  rest  day  nor  night,  who  worship 
the  beast  and  his  image,  and  whosoever  receiveth  the  mark 
of  his  name. 

Here  is  the  patience  of  the  saints:  here  are  they  that 
keep  the  commandments  of  God,  and  the  faith  of  Jesus^ 

-Revei^ation  14 : 1-12. 


XIX 

THE  LAMB  ON  THE  MOUNT 

AS  one  looks  at  the  Lamb  of  God,  standing  there 
on  Mount  Zion,  one  must  remember  how  it  was 
this  same  John  who  told  us  that  Our  Father  loves  not 
the  white  races  only,  but  the  whole  world.  Of  this 
our  Bible,  not  one  single  line  was  of  European  origin 
— every  syllable  came  from  Asia,  and  while  it  is  natu- 
ral for  us  to  say  that  the  Dragon  and  the  Beast  are 
pictures  of  the  Roman  Empire  or  Kaiserdom  or 
Papacy,  we  must  not  expect  that  the  black  man  and 
the  yellow  man  will  read  his  Bible  in  our  history  books. 
What  interest  has  the  Hindu  in  the  Spanish  Armada 
or  the  Chinaman  in  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's? The  Chinaman  is  brooding  over  the  Boxer 
Rebellion  and  the  dethronement  of  the  Manchus,  while 
the  Hindu  meditates  upon  the  mutiny  and  the  Moslem 
xicursions.  As  for  the  negro,  with  his  strange  passion 
TOT  the  spiritual,  Armageddon  may  be  for  him  the 
Civil  War  which  secured  liberty  and  citizenship. 

Reading  this  Apocalypse,  merely  as  a  layman,  I  do 
not  find  therein  any  obvious  and  unmistakable  schedule  \ 
of  future  events,  to  occur  one  after  the  other  at  fixed  / 
and  predetermined  dates.     There  may  be   in  these 
chapters  cryptograms  and  cross-references  of  which  I 
am  unaware,  but  taking  the  Vision  simply,  I  gather 

171 


172  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

that  at  the  very  moment  when  one  nation  may  be 
cruelly  oppressed  by  the  Beast  and  the  Dragon,  an- 
other may  be  worshipping  the  Lamb  on  Mount  Zion. 
We  have  seen  Germany  exchanging  the  music  of 
Mozart  for  a  hymn  of  hate  and  the  gospel  of  Luther 
for  a  mailed  fist.  But  a  land  less  favoured  in  intellect 
than  Germany — the  Kingdom  of  Uganda — was  em- 
ploying this  very  period  in  destruction  of  idols,  aban- 
donment of  savagery  and  adoption  of  the  Christian 
faith.  There  you  have  a  challenging  contrast  between 
simple  men  saved  by  worshipping  the  Lamb  and  clever 
men  ruined  by  worshipping  the  Beast.  With  Christ 
it  has  been  better  to  wear  a  black  skin  in  Africa  than 
without  Him  to  wear  a  white  skin  in  Europe. 

Sacrifice  or  Success. 

According  to  John,  endowed  as  he  was  with  the 
mystical  mind  of  the  East,  the  Roman  Empire  and  the 
Western  civilization  which  has  been  erected  upon  its 
majestic  ruins  were  a  system,  a  Beast,  which  Christ 
had  to  confront  and  to  conquer.  You  would  have 
thought,  perhaps,  that  the  Saviour,  assailed  by  the 
blasphemies  of  society,  must  stand  forth  with  an  over- 
whelming display  of  power  as  King  of  Kings  and  Lord 
of  Lords.  His  purple  must  be,  surely,  more  gorgeous 
than  the  purple  of  princes  and  his  diadem  must  out- 
flash  the  most  brilliant  of  crowns.  But  it  was  not  the 
Christ  of  a  historic  prestige,  of  an  elaborate  cere- 
monial, of  a  resplendent  art,  who  now  appeared  upon 
Mount  Zion.  It  was  Christ  in  His  humblest  guise — 
the  Lamb — obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the 
Cross,  Who  stood  there,  making  once  more  His  mute 
appeal  for  the  love  of  men  and  women.  As  Sufferer, 
He  said  nothing;  He  was  silent  as  a  Crucifix — dumb 


THE  LAMB  ON  THE  MOUNT  ITS 

as  a  sheep  before  her  shearers.  Yet  even  the  most 
careless  knew  that  He  was  standing  there  all  the  time 
waiting,  and  in  the  highest  place. 

For  His  alternative  to  the  worship  of  Success  is 
His  own  Sacrifice,  His  own  Service.  He  claims  the 
millionaire  and  the  millionaire  becomes  a  missonary. 
He  lays  hands  on  the  millions  and,  by  miracle,  luxury 
is  curbed  and  hospitals  rise  from  unseen  foundations. 
Of  the  two  ideals,  Success  is  less  noble  than  Sacrifice. 
The  Beast  emerged  from  the  sea,  crawling  upon  its 
belly,  and  they  who  worship  the  Beast  must  descend  to 
sea  level.  But  the  Lamb  is  only  to  be  found  in  the 
mountain.  His  throne  must  be  a  sacred  city.  And 
worship  of  the  Lamb  means  climbing  constantly  up- 
ward, from  rock  to  rock,  from  ridge  to  ridge,  until 
you  find  at  the  top  plenty  of  room,  since  coming  to 
Him  no  one  is  cast  out. 

Commerce  and  Christianity. 

There  are  days  in  which  much  is  said  about  the  con- 
flict between  Commerce  and  Christianity.  The  fact 
is  that  Commerce  is  just  exactly  what  you  make  it. 
Like  that  second  Beast  with  the  two  horns,  it  may  be 
mild  as  a  lamb.  It  is  then  a  mutual  service  between 
friend  and  friend,  and  therefore  it  resembles  the  serv- 
ice of  Christ  Who  was  friend  of  all.  But  Commerce 
also  is  apt  to  speak  like  a  dragon  or  serpent.  It  leaves 
a  trail  of  trickery — of  secret  rebates  and  commissions, 
the  short  weights  which  are  an  abomination  unto  the 
Lord — the  unavowed  profits — the  unequal  price — the 
withholden  wage.  And  it  was  just  here  that  the  wor- 
shippers of  the  Lamb  were  distinguished  from  the 
worshippers  of  the  Beast.  They  were  straightforward. 
They  told  the  whole  truth.     In  their  mouth,  as  in  Na~ 


174  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

thaniers,  there  was  no  guile.  They  did  not  speak  as  a 
serpent. 

In  a  mark  or  brand  on  the  hand  and  forehead,  there 
is  no  disgrace.  All  life,  whether  of  toil  or  pleasure, 
leaves  behind  its  signature.  It  is  the  kind  of  mark  that 
matters.  The  Beast  was  after  a  monopoly  of  material 
things — that  nobody  should  buy  or  sell  except  with  his 
mark.  But  the  Lamb  wrote  a  Father's  name  on  men's 
foreheads.  He  taught  us  to  be  brothers  and  sisters  in 
a  family — that  trade  is  really  housekeeping  on  a  large 
scale,  in  which  there  is  one  larder  for  all  who  are  hun- 
gry. The  ideals  of  competition  developing  into  mon- 
opoly gradually  changed  into  ideals  of  cooperation. 
Many  nations  and  kindreds  and  tongues  began  to  be 
animated  by  one  impulse  and  to  sing  one  song.  It  was 
a  new  song,  never  heard  before,  and  only  to  be  learnt 
in  one  key.  The  song  of  mutual  help  is  known  only  to 
those  who  have  first  worshipped  the  free  sacrifice  of 
Himself  by  Our  Saviour. 

John  is  describing  here  a  time  of  great  perplexity. 
Terrible  as  had  been  the  former  wars  and  persecutions, 
they  were  hardly  so  dangerous  to  faith  as  the  steady 
daily  pressure  of  secular  life  in  a  modern  community. 
Yet  the  disciples,  known  to  Christ  by  their  names,  still 
numbered  one  hundred  and  forty  and  four  thousands. 
Not  alone  when  the  Church  was  poor  and  despised  did 
men  prove  faithful.  Not  alone  in  the  amphitheatre 
did  they  triumph.  They  stood  the  final  test  of  the 
Stock  Exchange  and  Wall  Street  and  the  wheat  pit  of 
Chicago. 

For  with  every  generation,  the  music  of  the  re- 
deemed gains  in  depth  and  grandeur.  At  first  it  is  but 
a  song  from  the  unaccompanied  throats  of  men  and 
women,  but  now  there  are  harps  and  harpers.     Faith 


THE  LAMB  ON  THE  MOUNT  175 

has  her  orchestra  of  which  the  dominating  instrument 
— a  harp — contrasts  sharply  with  the  jazz  of  brass 
bangs,  so  barbaric,  cruel,  obtrusive,  delirious.  Such 
madness,  whether  of  dance  or  paint  or  journalism  or 
politics,  is  rebuked  by  the  tender  tone- throbs  of  the 
harp-strings,  deep  yet  gentle  and  modest,  lingering  with 
the  long  touch  of  human  fingers  and  sustained  from 
moment  to  moment  by  the  wandering  wind  of  the 
Omnipresent.  Rich  indeed  have  been  these  times  of 
ours  in  Christian  Art — the  oratorio,  reverent  and  mov- 
ing poems,  glowing  pictures, — even  dramas.  While 
the  Beasts  rise  from  the  sea,  the  harpers  are  changing 
homes  into  heaven. 

Among  the  disciples  of  this  latter  day  were  seen  two 
virtues — Chastity  and  Obedience — standing  before 
God's  throne.  Men  dared  not  wrong  a  woman.  De- 
spite social  evils,  divorces  and  scandals,  chivalry 
gained  ground.  Motherhood  was  safeguarded.  And 
there  were  constantly  fresh  applications  of  Christ's 
teaching.  It  was  not  enough  that  Christ  should  be 
obeyed  on  Sundays  and  in  religious  matters,  so  called. 
Men  realized  that  they  must  follow  the  Lamb  whither- 
soever He  goeth.  No  sacrifice  was  too  great.  The 
influence  of  Our  Lord  was  felt  in  banks  and  in  Parlia- 
ments; He  was  seen  in  housing  schemes;  He  was 
heard  in  appeals  for  starving  Europeans.  Even  in 
business  His  Will  began  to  be  recognized.  There 
were  actually  disciples  in  whose  lives  the  eye  of  God 
found  no  fault,  so  complete  was  their  redemption,  so 
whole-hearted  was  their  sense  of  duty. 


CHAPTER  XX 
THE  THREE  ANGELS 


AND  I  saw  another  angel  fly  in  the  midst  of  heaven, 
having  the  everlasting  gospel  to  preach  unto  them 
that  dwell  on  the  earth,  and  to  every  nation,  and 
kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people, 

Saying  with  a  loud  voice,  Fear  God,  and  give  glory  to 
him;  for  the  hour  of  his  judgment  is  come:  and  worship 
him  that  made  heaven,  and  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  the 
fountains  of  waters. 

And  there  followed  another  angel,  saying,  Babylon  is 
fallen,  is  fallen,  that  great  city,  because  she  made  all  na- 
tions drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  her  fornication. 

And  the  third  angel  followed  them,  saying  with  a  loud 
voice,  If  any  man  worship  the  beast  and  his  image,  and 
receive  his  mark  in  his  forehead,  or  in  his  hand. 

The  same  shall  drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  God, 
which  is  poured  out  without  mixture  into  the  cup  of  his 
indignation ;  and  he  shall  be  tormented  with  fire  and  brim- 
stone in  the  presence  of  the  holy  angels,  and  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Lamb: 

And  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  up  for  ever 
and  ever:  and  they  have  no  rest  day  nor  night,  who  wor- 
ship the  beast  and  his  image,  and  whosoever  receiveth  the 
mark  of  his  name. 

Here  is  the  patience  of  the  saints:  here  are  they  that 
keep  the  commandments  of  God,  and  the  faith  of  Jesus. 

— Revei^atign  14:6-12. 


XX 

THE  THREE  ANGELS 

THE  first  and  foremost  fact  that  John  of  Patmos 
declares  is — throughout  his  Vision — simply 
this — God  speaking  to  man.  By  trumpets  and  thunders 
and  the  still  small  voice,  by  the  song  of  praise  and  the 
mysteries  of  pain,  the  Father  is  seeking  the  obedient 
love  of  the  family.  Here,  for  instance,  are  these  three 
angels,  flying  through  the  heavens  where  all  can  see 
them  and  speaking  in  a  voice  that  all  can  hear.  Theirs 
is  a  message,  at  once  instantaneous  and  universal,  not 
to  churches  but  to  mankind — to  every  nation  and 
kindred  and  tongue  and  people — a  message  immedi- 
ately translated  and  immediately  transmitted.  One 
hundred  years  ago,  it  seemed  sheer  vision — the  imagi-^ 
nation  of  a  miracle.  But  now,  with  the  telegraph  and 
the  telephone  and  with  wireless,  all  of  them  thus 
claimed  as  agencies  of  the  Lord  above  us,  the  wonder 
is  an  actuality  of  every  day.  The  prophecy  is  ful- 
filled. 

The  Gospel  Preached. 

It  was  not  this  time  a  flying  eagle,  sweeping  over  the 
world  with  a  wail  of  woe.  Instead  of  such  pessimism, 
we  have  in  the  first  angel  a  missioner  of  hope,  who 
preaches  the  everlasting  gospel,  the  good  news  that  is 
never  stale,  calling  on  men,  not  to  make  religion  at- 

179 


180  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

tractive,  but  to  fear  God,  as  the  beginning  of  wisdom, 
because  the  hour  is  coming  for  judgment,  for  a  final 
decision  on  issues  of  right  and  wrong. 

Society  Shaken. 

The  second  angel  utters  in  advance  a  warning  which, 
as  we  shall  see,  was  amplified  later.  Your  great  Baby- 
lon, says  he,  your  social  system  with  its  follies,  its 
pleasures  and  its  cruelties,  has  fallen — ^he  repeats  it — 
has  fallen,  that  great  city,  fallen  as  Rome  fell,  because 
she  made  all  nations,  even  those  which  did  not  share 
her  luxuries  and  vices,  drink  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of 
her  fornication,  share  the  abuses  of  her  selfishness,  the 
white  man's  temptations,  his  tyrannies  over  the  weaker 
races,  his  use  of  others  for  his  own  purposes.  A 
shaken  society  thus  vindicated  an  everlasting  gospel 
which  had  not  been  obeyed. 

Each  of  Us  Warned. 

The  third  angel,  still  more  insistent,  addressed  each 
person  as  an  individual.  He  does  not  trouble  himself 
about  the  air,  the  earth  and  the  sea,  about  Babylon  and 
the  nations,  but  begins  with  Any  Man — and  from  that 
there  is  no  escape.  //  any  man,  he  cries, — with  the 
gospel  preached  and  Babylon  fallen — still  ^worships 
this  beast  and  his  image,  still  lives  for  money  and  social 
prestige,  if  he  still  allows  himself  to  be  stamped  or 
branded  on  hand  and  forehead  with  the  mark  of  the 
beast, — if  he  does  that  in  business  which  sears  his  soul 
and  degrades  thought  and  habit — then  that  same  man, 
he  and  none  else,  shall  inevitably  suffer.  Not  other 
nations  only,  but  he — Any  Man — shall  drink  the  wine 
of  wrath,  poured  out  without  mixture  or  dilution  into 
the  cup  of  God's  indignation.     Reigns  of  terror  or 


THE  THKEE  ANGELS  181 

torment  shall  follow  reigns  of  tyranny ^  not  because  of 
devilry,  but  in  the  presence  of  the  holy  angels  and  of 
the  Lamb, — Him  Who  said  of  the  unkind  to  children, 
that  it  were  better  for  them  that  a  millstone  had  been 
tied  about  their  neck  and  they  cast  into  the  sea.  Wor- 
ship the  beast  and  his  image,  receive  his  mark,  and 
you  will  have  no  rest  day  or  night,  and  if  your  re- 
bellion goes  on  for  ever  and  ever,  so  also  will  the 
smoke  of  your  torment,  your  remorse  and  anguish. 
You  cannot  serve  God  and  Mammon  and  if  it  takes 
eternity,  you  will  have  to  learn  that  lesson.  An 
eternal  rebellion  means  inevitably  an  eternal  punish- 
ment. Here — says  John  of  Patmos, — is  the  patience 
of  the  saints,  the  men  who  keep  the  commandments  of 
God  and  the  faith  of  Jesus — namely,  that  God  will 
never  surrender  to  Any  Man  but  that  Every  Man,  if 
he  is  to  be  included  among  the  happy,  must  surrender 
to  God. 

So  much  for  the  three  angels.  Their  flight  and  their 
message  show  that  "  an  open  Bible  "  is  not  enough. 
The  little  book  may  be  held  in  the  hand  of  a  giant  who 
stands  astride  the  world.  It  may  be  available  to  all, 
but  read  by  none.  Living  epistles  are  also  needed — 
the  evangelist,  the  critic,  the  judge — all  bearing  wit- 
ness, with  the  Book,  to  the  Christ.  The  Bible,  so  far 
from  being  a  Koran,  written  once  for  all  in  a  fixed 
language,  must  be  carried  by  teachers  everywhere,  and 
interpreted,  and  made  one's  own,  and  offered  to  one's 
generation. 


CHAPTER  XXI 
THE  SOULS  OF  THE  DEAD 


AND  I  heard  a  voice  from  heaven,  saying  unto  me, 
Write,  Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord 
from  henceforth:  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they 
may  rest  from  their  labours;  and  their  works  do  follow 
them. 

And  I  looked,  and  behold  a  white  cloud,  and  upon  the 
cloud  one  sat  like  unto  the  Son  of  man,  having  on  his  head 
a  golden  crown,  and  in  his  hand  a  sharp  sickle. 

And  another  angel  came  out  of  the  temple,  crying  with 
a  loud  voice  to  him  that  sat  on  the  cloud,  Thrust  in  thy 
sickle,  and  reap :  for  the  time  is  come  for  thee  to  reap ;  for 
the  harvest  of  the  earth  is  ripe. 

And  he  that  sat  on  the  cloud  thrust  in  his  sickle  on  the 
earth;  and  the  earth  was  reaped. 

And  another  angel  came  out  of  the  temple  which  is  in 
heaven,  he  also  having  a  sharp  sickle. 

And  another  angel  came  out  from  the  altar,  which  had 
power  over  fire ;  and  cried  with  a  loud  cry  to  him  that  had 
the  sharp  sickle,  saying,  Thrust  in  thy  sharp  sickle,  and 
gather  the  clusters  of  the  vine  of  the  earth ;  for  her  grapes 
are  fully  ripe. 

And  the  angel  thrust  in  his  sickle  into  the  earth,  and 
gathered  the  vine  of  the  earth,  and  cast  it  into  the  great 
winepress  of  the  wrath  of  God. 

And  the  winepress  was  trodden  without  the  city,  and 
blood  came  out  of  the  winepress,  even  unto  the  horse 
bridles,  by  the  space  of  a  thousand  and  six  hundred  fur- 
longs. 

— Revelation  14 :  13-20. 


XXI 
THE  SOULS  OF  THE  DEAD 

IT  was  a  voice  from  the  throne — ^the  voice  of  Our 
Lord  Himself — that  commanded  John  of  Patmos, 
here  and  now,  to  write  of  the  life  after  death.  With 
his  own  eyes  he  had  seen  Christ  risen,  and  Christ 
alone  was  to  him  a  full  proof  that  in  Christ  he  would 
live  forever.  Believing  in  heaven  and  in  hell,  in  angels 
and  in  devils  and  the  soul,  John  does  not  once  in  his 
Vision  give  us  a  message  from  departed  Apostles,  like 
his  brother  James,  or  Paul.  From  all  that  radiant 
throng,  he  selects  but  one  Subject  for  a  portrait  and 
He,  thus  depicted,  is  the  Redeemer. 

To  John,  with  his  accurate  knowledge  of  Scripture, 
spiritualism  was  as  old  as  Moses,  who  rudely  con- 
demned a  wizard  or  a  medium  to  death.  Having 
studied  Isaiah,  he  knew  what  that  prophet  thought  of 
those  who  peep  and  mutter  at  seances  instead  of  seek- 
ing after  God  Himself,  where  He  may  be  found  and 
calling  upon  Him  while  He  is  near.  So  in  his  picture 
of  future  blessedness,  John  insists  that  those  we  love 
are  at  rest  from  their  labours,  and  must  not  be  dis- 
turbed as  Saul  disturbed  Samuel,  when  he  consulted 
the  witch  of  Endor.  It  is  their  works  that  follow 
them — not  their  ghosts — ^the  buildings  they  have 
raised,  the  books  they  have  written,  the  families  they 
have  raised,  the  liberties  which  they  established.  John 
reverses  the  pessimism  of  Mark  Antony.     The  evil  that 

185 


186  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

men  do  is  cut  off  like  Babylon  and  burnt  with  fire,  but 
the  good,  so  far  from  being  interred  with  their  bones, 
lives  on  forever. 

Yet  it  is  not  wrong  to  look  earnestly  into  the  unseen. 
Many  times  did  John  thus  gaze,  and  always  did  he  dis- 
cern some  new  glimpse  of  God  and  His  purposes.  It 
is  not  wrong  to  listen  for  voices  hitherto  drowned  in 
the  nearer  clamour  of  the  world.  John  also  listened — 
John  also  heard.  But  what  he  constantly  desired  was 
the  further — the  fuller  appearing  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Nothing  less  than  this  would  satisfy  a  man  of  the 
common  people,  who  lived  in  broad  daylight,  not  in  a 
darkened  salon,  who  loved  the  open  air,  the  sky,  the 
stars,  the  clouds,  and  who  was  facing  poverty,  exile  and 
a  constant  risk  of  martyrdom.  In  the  faith  of  such  a 
man,  there  was  no  room  for  nonsense,  no  niche  for 
superstition.  What  burst  upon  him  was  the  Son  of 
Man  with  the  sharp  sickle. 

Many  years  before  this  Vision,  Jesus  had  told  John 
about  the  end  of  the  age  as  a  harvest,  with  sheaves  to 
be  gathered  into  the  garner  of  God.  It  is,  I  suppose,  a 
simple  scientific  proposition  that  the  wheels  of  this  our 
solar  system,  now  revolving  with  such  exquisite  ac- 
curacy, would,  if  left  to  themselves,  one  day  run 
down  like  a  clock  that  needs  winding.  If  that  hap- 
pened this  trivial  speck  of  dust  which  we  call  our 
planet,  slowly  but  surely  cooling  after  its  primeval 
heats,  would  lose  forever  those  living  tenants  whose 
souls  have  rendered  this  little  world  illustrious.  Such 
an  astronomical  culmination  would  be,  of  course,  re- 
mote indeed  by  our  reckoning  of  the  calendar,  and 
the  immediate  question  for  us  is  in  what  sense  we 
shall  ourselves  have  to  face  ''an  end  of  the  age  "  or 
era  in  which  we  live. 


THE  SOULS  OF  THE  DEAD  187 

We  should  remember  that  harvest  goes  on  all  the 
year  round.  Every  hour  of  every  day  of  every  sea- 
son, some  one  somewhere  is  sowing  or  reaping  or 
binding  the  sheaves.  With  tis  it  may  be  only  spring, 
but  with  others  it  is  already  autumn,  and  John  did  not 
wait  a  million  years  ere  he  saw  the  Son  of  Man  and 
the  angels  wielding  sharp  sickles.  Lift  up  your  eyes, 
Our  Lord  used  to  say,  the  fields  are  already  white  unto 
harvest.  Glance  over  any  statistics  of  births,  deaths 
and  marriages  and  you  will  see  for  yourself  how  true 
this  is.  Never  has  the  angel  of  death  been  busier  in 
the  world  than  he  is  to-day. 

The  Finality  of  Death. 

The  sickles  are  always  sharp.  Death,  in  whatever 
form,  is,  at  the  end,  a  guillotine  that  cuts  quite  clean. 
For  good  as  for  bad  people,  it  is  the  same  stroke. 
And  while  the  severance  may  not  be  forever,  it  is 
absolute  while  it  lasts.  Once  reaped  the  grain  leaves 
the  field,  never  to  return — the  grapes  cannot  be  re- 
stored by  any  occult  art  to  the  vine.  No  spiritualist 
can  cement  those  communications  which  the  sickle  has 
parted.  Here  is  a  decision  which  no  man  can  dis- 
pute. 

In  death,  as  in  life,  men*s  circimistances  are  affected 
by  their  attitude  towards  Our  Saviour.  Those  who 
love  Him  as  John  did,  see  that  the  sharp  sickle  is 
actually  in  none  other  than  His  own  pierced  hand. 
On  His  head,  the  crown  of  thorns  is  changed  into  a 
crown  of  gold.  He  has  conquered  death ;  and  if  He 
uses  the  sickle  it  is  not  of  necessity,  but  because  even 
that  sickle  becomes,  in  His  grasp,  a  blessing.  We 
sorrow — we  weep — but  we  would  not  have  had  it 
otherwise.     For  there  is  in  these  words  of  John  a 


188  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

most  delicate  expression  of  Our  Lord's  tender  mercy 
to  His  own.  They  who  cared  little  for  the  Son  of 
Man  only  saw  in  Death  an  angel, — old  Father  Time 
with  his  scythe,  it  may  be — but  to  the  disciples  who 
followed  the  Lamb  whithersoever  He  went  Death  is 
no  Angel — he  is  the  Lord  Himself — and  however 
cruel  the  thrust  of  the  sickle  may  seem  to  be,  He 
alone,  in  His  loving  wisdom,  dealt  the  blow. 

For  it  is  not  now  as  King  of  Kings  and  Lord  of 
Lords  that  we  see  Him  sitting  there,  enthroned  on  the 
bright  cloud  of  His  divinity.  To  those  whose  blinds 
are  drawn  and  voices  hushed,  Christ,  even  when  risen 
and  ascended,  comes  as  of  old — still  the  Son  of  Man, 
who  trod  the  highways  of  Galilee,  who  raised  the  son 
of  the  widow  at  Nain,  who  awakened  the  daughter  of 
Jairus  and  wept  at  the  tomb  of  Lazarus.  He  is  the 
Friend  who  comforts  even  when,  in  love.  He  strikes. 
We  deal  with  Him  alone  and  with  none  other. 

Christ  the  Reaper. 

We  have  thus  to  accept  Him,  not  always  as  Christ 
Scientist,  the  Healer,  but  as  Christ  the  Reaper.  It  is 
not  enough  to  trust  Him  when  He  cures  us.  That 
was  where  in  his  old  age  King  Hezekiah  failed.  Even 
though  He  slay  us,  yet  should  we  trust  in  Him.  For 
if  we  look  closely  at  this  Vision,  we  shall  see  that  the 
Son  of  Man,  here  rising  before  us  as  the  Conqueror 
of  Death,  still  displayed  even  in  that  triumph  the 
humility  in  which  He  became  obedient  unto  the  Cross. 
Jesus  is  manifest  on  the  cloud ;  but  He  still  wears  our 
human  nature.  He  still  acknowledges  the  authority 
of  His  Father,  shrouded  within  the  Temple  of  Heaven 
which  was  not  yet  swept  away.  Still  were  there  times 
and  seasons  which  the  Son  of  Man  knew  not.     Still 


THE  SOULS  OF  THE  DEAD  189 

did  He  receive,  as  in  Gethsemane,  messages  from  the 
angels.  If  He  submitted  to  those  decrees,  may  not  we  ? 
However  hard  may  seem  to  be  Our  Father's  destiny 
for  us,  we  have,  as  it  were,  the  guarantee  of  our  Elder 
Brother  that  the  sharp  sickle  in  His  hand  is  only 
wielded  in  utter  mercy. 

Applied  to  a  field  of  grain,  the  word  "  ripe  "  means 
"  dried."  The  stalks  are  cut  because  the  sap  is  out  of 
them.  The  opportunity  is  exhausted.  Death  is  better 
than  decay  and  it  was  Paul's  desire  to  enter  the  har- 
bour like  a  ship  in  full  sail — with  an  abundant  sweep 
of  canvas.  While  the  stalk  may  wither, — may  in- 
deed be  threshed  to  dust — the  grain  survives  and 
within  the  grain  is  eternal  life. 

So  concludes,  for  the  moment,  John's  picture  of 
death  as  it  falls  on  those  who  follow  Christ  in  the 
duties  of  each  day,  until  the  end  comes.  They  are 
the  wheat — a  grain  humbler  far  than  the  mustard  seed 
which  grows  into  a  mighty  tree, — a  democratic  grain, 
for  in  a  cornfield  there  are  millions  of  ears,  none  over- 
topping the  other.  But  there  are  in  human  society 
vineyards  as  well  as  cornfields.  There  is  the  life  that 
is  luxurious  as  a  fruit,  rather  than  regular  and  useful 
as  a  cereal.  Men  can  live  without  grapes.  They 
cannot  live  without  bread.  And  the  Jews,  therefore, 
constantly  employed  the  term,  vineyard,  as  a  symbol  of 
pleasure,  either  hallowed  or  profane. 

The  Forty  Furlongs. 

They  who  live  for  themselves  are  like  those  clusters 
of  ripe  grapes.  When  death  overtakes  them,  they  see 
only  the  dread  angel.  Not  for  them  is  the  sharp 
sickle  held  in  the  hand  of  a  Friend  and  a  Saviour. 
Before  the  Temple  there  is  an  altar  of  fire.     That  fir^ 


190  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

is  tended  by  an  angel  appointed  for  the  purpose.  Not 
unmoved  is  the  Father's  heart  when  His  children  for- 
get Him — despise  and  oppress  one  another — seize 
more  than  their  share  of  His  good  gifts — and  change 
His  vine  into  the  alcohol  of  lust  and  greed  and  passion. 
Here  also  sweeps  the  sickle. 

In  the  harvest  of  grain,  not  a  word  is  said  of  terror. 
But  when  the  vineyard  is  levelled  to  the  ground,  men's 
hearts  fail  them.  The  day  has  come  when  they  must 
leave  the  city  where  so  many  have  been  their  enjoy- 
ments. In  hotels  and  theatres,  in  clubs  and  cabarets, 
dead  men  and  women  are  not  wanted.  Away  into  the 
country  are  they  sent — to  those  very  cornfields  of  duty 
which  they  neglected — and  we  read  then  of  the  wine- 
press. For  the  first  time,  they  must  yield  to  others 
whatever  of  value  they  have.  Their  selfishness  must 
be  trampled  out.  And  if  need  be,  their  blood  must 
be  shed. 

Many  times  has  the  world  witnessed  such  a  crushing 
of  wealth  and  extravagance  by  the  conscience  of  the 
community.  It  happened  in  revolutionary  Paris.  It 
happened  again  in  Russia.  The  aristocrats  in  those 
lands  would  have  no  difficulty  in  interpreting  these  tre- 
mendous images  of  social  upheaval.  They  knew  well 
enough  what  was  meant  by  that  area  of  forty  furlongs 
square,  in  which  lay  the  city  of  terror.  They  knew 
what  scramble  there  was  for  horses — for  any  vehicle — 
by  which  the  refugee  might  hurry  into  the  safety  of 
exile  beyond.  To  escape  from  the  winepress — that 
was  the  only  thought — yet  how  few  did  escape !  With 
the  guillotine  busy  as  the  firing  squad,  death  seized 
the  very  bits  of  the  horses — blood  itself  made  the 
exodus  impossible.  Society — polite,  cultured,  cynical 
— ^had  to  learn  that  there  is  no  escape  from  moral 


THE  SOULS  OF  THE  DEAD  191 

responsibility.  You  cannot  order  your  coachman  or 
chauffeur  to  drive  you  beyond  the  frontiers  of  your 
obligation  to  God  and  man.  With  the  tide  rising 
around  you  the  forty  times  forty  furlongs  cannot 
thus  be  traversed.  Lash  your  horses  as  you  will — not 
in  them  lies  your  hope  of  salvation.  There  was  blood, 
once  shed,  which  would  have  helped  you.  There  was 
One  Who — Himself  cast  out  of  the  city  as  you  are — 
suffered  beyond  the  gates  and  at  His  Cross  you  mig^ht 
have  found  your  safety. 


CHAPTER  XXII 
THE  SEVEN  VIALS 


A 


ND  I  saw  another  sign  in  heaven,  great  and  marvel- 
lous, seven  angels  having  the  seven  last  plagues. 

And  the  seven  angels  came  out  of  the  temple,  clothed 
in  pure  and  white  linen,  and  having  their  breasts  girded 
with  golden  girdles. 

And  one  of  the  four  beasts  gave  unto  the  seven  angels 
seven  golden  vials,  full  of  the  wrath  of  God. 

And  the  temple  was  filled  with  smoke  from  the  glory 
of  God,  and  from  his  power. 

******* 

And  the  first  angel  went,  and  poured  out  his  vial  upon 
the  earth;  and  there  fell  a  noisome  and  grievous  sore 
upon  the  men  which  had  the  mark  of  the  beast. 

And  the  second  angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  sea; 
and  it  became  as  the  blood  of  a  dead  man. 

And  the  third  angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  rivers 
and  fountains  of  waters ;  and  they  became  blood. 

******* 

And  the  fourth  angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  sun; 
and  power  was  given  unto  him  to  scorch  men  with  fire. 

And  the  fifth  angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  seat  of 
the  beast ;  and  his  kingdom  was  full  of  darkness ;  and  they 
gnawed  their  tongues  for  pain. 

******* 

And  the  sixth  angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon  the  great 
river  Euphrates;  and  the  water  thereof  was  dried  up, 
that  the  way  of  the  kings  of  the  east  might  be  prepared 

And  I  saw  three  unclean  spirits  Hke  frogs  come  out  oi 
the  mouth  of  the  dragon,  and  out  of  the  mouth  of  the 
beast,  and  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  false  prophet. 

******* 

And  he  gathered  them  together  into  a  place  called  in 
the  Hebrew  tongue  Armageddon. 

And  the  seventh  angel  poured  out  his  vial  into  the  air; 
and  there  came  a  great  voice  out  of  the  temple  of  heaven, 
from  the  throne,  saying,  It  is  done. 

And  there  were  voices,  and  thunders,  and  lightnings ;  and 
there  was  a  great  earthquake. 

******* 

And  the  great  city  was  divided  into  three  parts,  and  the 
cities  of  the  nations  fell:  and  great  Babylon  came  in  re- 
membrance before  God,  to  give  unto  her  the  cup  of  the 
wine  of  the  fierceness  of  his  wrath. 

And  every  island  fled  away,  and  the  mountains  were  not 
found. 

And  there  fell  upon  men  a  great  hail  out  of  heaven, 
every  stone  about  the  weight  of  a  talent. 

—Revelation  15  and  16 


XXII 
THE  SEVEN  VIALS 

IT  is  said  that  you  cannot  indict  a  nation.  Yet 
John  of  Patmos  had  now  to  enter  a  supreme  court 
where  all  nations  are  indicted,  and  if  in  describing 
these  great  and  marvellous  scenes,  he  had  struck  one 
false  note,  he  would  have  made  his  Vision  ridiculous. 
As  the  company  of  heaven  testified,  the  tribunal  was 
great  and  marvellous  because  so  also  was  the  Judge.  It 
was  for  the  Judge  alone  that  John  made  record.  It 
was  a  case  where  a  prophet  must  be  either  foolish  or 
infallible. 

Doubtless  that  phrase,  the  zvrath  of  God,  has  made 
the  Bible  unpopular.  The  only  question  is,  how- 
ever,— does  it  tell  the  truth?  We  like  to  think  that 
it  was  only  the  gods  of  Greece  and  Rome  who  showed 
anger,  but  Our  Lord  Himself  was  also  thus  moved  and 
it  was  John,  to  whom  God  is  Love,  who  tells  us  also  of 
the  wrath  of  God.  Indeed,  he  even  adds — and  of  the 
Lamb,  so  finding  indignation  in  the  heart  of  Him 
Who,  when  they  nailed  Him  to  the  Cross,  prayed, 
Father,  forgive  them  for  they  knozv  not  zvhat  they 
do.  Jesus  did  not  abolish  the  thunders  of  Mount 
Sinai.  In  the  desert,  if  you  prefer  it  to  the  Promised 
Land,  Mount  Sinai  still  casts  its  shadow  on  uneasy 
consciences.  What  Jesus  provided  in  Mount  Calvary 
was  an  alternative. 

195 


196  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

Years  before,  John  was  among  those  who  would 
have  called  down  fire  from  heaven  on  a  Samaritan 
village  which  rejected  Christ.  It  was  Elijah's  idea 
of  judgment  and  on  a  world  where  lightning  flashes, 
it  cannot  be  wrong.  But  what  Jesus  did  was  simply 
to  leave  the  village,  knowing  well  that  His  absence  is 
the  ultimate  retribution.  As  Son  of  Man,  a  title  care- 
fully chosen  on  that  occasion.  He  came  first  not  to 
destroy  men's  lives  but  to  save  them,  and  not  until 
salvation  has  been  fully  offered,  does  He  being  our 
race  into  judgment. 

In  the  Jewish,  as  in  all  faiths,  there  were  three 
periods :  first,  when  the  priest  brought  from  the  taber- 
nacle a  blessing  for  the  people;  secondly  when,  like 
Zecharias,  the  priest  has  lost  his  voice  and  is  dumb; 
and  thirdly  when,  like  these  seven  angels,  he  can  offer, 
even  in  the  incense  of  prayer,  naught  save  a  plague. 
Here  was,  in  fact,  John's  last  glimpse  of  the  Temple. 
There  is  much  in  the  world  to  condemn,  but  when 
there  is  in  Religion  only  condemnation,  then  some- 
thing greater  must  arise — the  City  of  God,  where, 
says  John,  no  Temple  is  to  be  seen,  or  regretted. 

The  Victorious  Faithful. 

In  the  sunset  glow  of  an  era,  far  advanced,  the  sea 
of  glass  is  now  mingled  with  fire.  The  clear  sincerity 
of  primitive  faith  is  radiant  with  a  warm  enthusiasm. 
It  is  the  Red  Sea  across  which  Moses  the  Deliverer 
led  the  children  of  Israel.  At  first,  that  sea  of  glass 
had  been  untenanted,  a  virgin  hope  between  earth  and 
heaven.  Then,  it  had  been  disturbed  by  Emergent 
Beasts — Military  and  Imperial  and  Commercial  Or- 
ganisms— All  Highest  Kaisers  and  Almighty  Dollars. 
But  now — ^where   Peter  walked  those  waters  alone 


THE  SEVEN  VIALS  107 

with  Christ — ^there  are  a  multitude  of  people  who 
have  gained  the  victory  over  the  Beast,  whose  natures 
are  unscathed  by  his  mark^^Nhost  minds  are  undeceived 
by  his  image — ^his  pretensions,  his  advertisements  and 
his  propaganda,  whose  courage  is  unappalled  by  his 
number,  that  compUcated  six  hundred  and  sixty  and 
six  which  is  always  one  short  of  seven,  the  divine  and 
the  perfect.  These  disciples,  rested  from  their  sorrows, 
could  now  inake  music  on  the  harps  of  God. 

The  Three  Songs. 

It  was  the  third  song  heard  by  John  in  heaven. 
First,  there  had  been  the  anthem  of  Creation.  Next, 
they  sang  the  new  Song  of  Salvation.  And  now  the 
Song  is  of  victory,  sung  by  those  who  have  fought  the 
good  fight,  finished  their  course  and  kept  the  faith. 
It  was  a  Song  of  Moses,  servant  of  God  and  of  the 
Lamb — one  harmony  between  him  who  gave  the  Law 
and  the  Greater  One  Who  fulfilled  it  for  us  all.  The 
ocean  of  life  that  overwhelms  Pharaoh  and  all  tyrants 
sustains  those  who  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  He 
goeth,  even  on  those  waters.  It  is  great  and  marvel- 
lous and  God's  judgments  are  made  manifest — ju^t 
and  true. 

The  Seven  Angels. 

Of  that  High  Court  of  Heaven,  the  doors  were  now 
thrown  open.  Here  was  to  be  a  public  trial  of  man' 
kind,  with  nothing  concealed.  The  seven  angels,  ter- 
rible in  beauty,  came  forth,  clothed  in  pure  and  white 
linen,  a  priesthood  of  righteousness  without  redemp- 
tion, not  one  touch  on  those  robes  of  the  blood  that 
atones.  Golden  as  truth  were  the  girdles  on  their 
breasts,  but  no  steel  had  pierced  the  hearts  within. 


198  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

Mankind  must  learn  what  it  is  to  face  facts,  with  the 
Saviour  refused. 

It  was  an  Elder  who  had  told  John  of  the  Lamb  of 
God  who  prevailed  to  open  our  book  of  life.  But  the 
Elders, — shaving  so  testified  and,  for  so  many,  in 
vain — are  now  silent.  It  is  from  one  of  the  four  beasts 
that  the  angels  received  their  vials  of  wrath — from  the 
creatures  that  symbolize  natural  science.  The  plagues 
are  simply  what  doctors  call  "  nature  taking  revenge." 
Not  in  the  churches  would  you  see  this,  but  in  hospitals, 
in  asylums,  in  courts  of  bankruptcy  and  divorce,  in 
poorhouses, — wherever  life  flaunts  failure.  We  have 
thus  to  learn  that  while  laws  may  be  broken,  God 
liveth  for  ever  and  ever. 

They  who  obeyed  the  Christ  found  rest  and  safety 
from  their  sufferings  under  the  altar  within  the  throne. 
But,  refusing  Him,  men  discovered  that  heaven  was 
still  Sinai,  an  unapproachable  temple,  where  you  saw 
God's  glory  and  His  power,  but  not  His  love,  where 
was  a  cloud  of  smoke  that  you  could  not  enter,  as  did 
the  Apostles  on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  until 
plagues  be  fulfilled.  As  Christ  told  us,  somehow  or 
other,  the  uttermost  farthing  must  be  paid.  John  heard 
a  great  voice  out  of  the  temple — a  voice  of  unchal- 
lengeable authority — saying  to  the  angels — Go  your 
ways — fulfil  the  laws  of  science  and  nature — and  pour 
out  the  vials  of  the  wrath  of  God  on  the  earth. 

The  First  Vial. 

The  emptying  of  the  first  vial  reveals  our  trouble 
as  Isaiah  saw  it — a  malady,  a  disease,  a  something 
within  us  that  breaks  forth  in  a  noisome  and  grievous 
sore — in  a  word,  personal  and  individual  sin.  Every 
doctor  knows  what  this  means,  the  life  that  is  threat- 


THE  SEYE:^r  VIALS  199 

ened  by  evil  living;  it  is  a  judgment,  reflected  pitilessly 
in  the  statistics  of  insurance.  The  late  hours,  the 
wasteful  food,  the  liquor,  the  vice,  the  warry  of  mind, 
the  hatreds  and  malice,  all  the  indulgences  which  are 
contrary  to  law,  and  all  the  laws  which  are  contrary 
to  God's  will,  result  in  pain  and  disgrace  and  a 
wretched  degradation  of  man,  born  in  His  image. 
Worshipping  the  image  of  the  beast,  man  repudiates 
the  image  of  God  in  which  he  was  created — his  own 
Paternity. 

The  Second  Vial. 

With  man  corrupt,  institutions  decay,  becoming  as  a 
corpse  in  the  midst  of  the  ocean,  itself  dead  and  killing 
the  life  in  others.  This  followed  the  second  vial;  once 
more  a  perfect  picture  of  the  church,  the  throne,  the 
republic,  the  university,  which  has  lost  its  vitality,  yet 
cannot  be  removed,  but  cumbers  the  nations  with 
abuses  and  offences,  all  derivable  from  the  selfishness 
of  individuals  composing  those  moribund  organisms. 
No  system,  however  perfect,  can  survive  for  long  the 
sin  of  the  souls  within  it. 

The  Third  Vial. 

When  the  third  angel  empties  his  vial,  the  rivers  and 
fountains  of  waters  are  turned  to  blood.  The  words 
that  men  speak  and  write  and  the  thoughts  that  they 
think,  which  should  be,  in  Christ,  a  well  within  them, 
springing  up  into  eternal  life,  are  changed  into  a 
perversion  that  is  deadliest  poison — a  corrupt  press,  a 
decadent  literature,  a  demoralized  art,  a  degraded 
drama.  And  the  angel  of  the  waters — a  perfect 
symbol  for  literary  and  dramatic  criticism — admits 
that  the  fault  lies,  not  with  God  but  with  man.     He 


200  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

Who  is  and  has  been  and  will  be,  Who  sees  the  long 
annals  of  mankind  as  one  connected  story,  is  righteous, 
because  He  has  thus  judged  man's  intellect  and  tastes. 
The  passion  which  sheds  the  blood  of  saints  and 
prophets  does  not  exhaust  itself  with  that  crime.  The 
piety  of  the  saints  who  fulfil  the  good  and  the  vision  of 
the  prophets  who  discover  it  cannot  be  destroyed  or 
ignored  without  the  practice  and  vision  of  evil  becom- 
ing the  alternative.  They  that  shed  blood  must  drink 
it.  And  so  far  from  the  Saviour  dissenting,  there  is 
heard  from  the  very  altar  of  His  sacrifice  a  voice 
saying  to  the  angel  of  the  waters,  Even  so. 

The  Fourth  Vial. 

The  fourth  vial  is  emptied  upon  the  sun — the  source 
of  natural  blessings,  whose  rays  ripen  the  corn  and 
enrich  the  grape.  That  which  should  warm  and  in- 
vigorate, now  scorches  men  with  fire  and  a  great  heat, 
so  that  they  blaspheme  the  name  of  God,  instead  of 
blessing  Him.  The  achievements  of  science — what  are 
they  ?  The  same  steel  is  fashioned  into  a  ploughshare 
and  a  bayonet.  The  same  dynamite  blasts  rock  into 
stone  for  the  mason  and  scatters  the  edifices  which 
have  been  built  out  of  the  stone.  All  material  things 
may  be  used  or  misused  and  until  men  repent — change 
their  allegiance — the  misuse  will  continue. 

The  Fifth  Vial. 

The  fifth  vial  is  emptied  on  the  seat  of  the  Beast. 
Secular  authority  disappears.  What  had  been  a  king- 
dom becomes  darkness — a  dark  age,  as  we  say,  sets  in. 
Over  every  continent,  you  will  find  traces  of  civiliza- 
tions which  have  thus  disappeared.  Men  have  created 
comforts   for  themselves,   but  cannot  of  themselves 


THE  SEVEN  YIALS  201 

preserve  them.  Rome  and  Russia  and  much  of  Europe 
have  known  what  it  is  to  gnaw  the  tongue  in  agony  of 
social  dissolution.  Over  and  over  again,  countries 
thus  collapse,  yet  without  repentance.  The  mind  is 
still  set  upon  other  objects  of  worship  than  the  Christ. 
The  problem  of  happiness  remains,  therefore,  still  un- 
solved. 

The  Sixth  Vial. 

The  sixth  angel  empties  his  vial  on  the  River 
Euphrates — that  great  river  of  imperialism — of  which 
we  have  already  heard.  And  the  river  is  dried  tip. 
Nay  more,  the  Kings  of  the  Bast  appear  with  a  highway 
plain  before  them.  For  centuries,  the  West  with  its 
power  over  the  material  had  dominated  the  East,  with 
its  mysticism.  But  the  time  would  come,  slowly  but 
surely,  when  the  East  must  assert  authority  even  over 
the  West.  A  divided  and  disgraced  Europe  cannot 
hold  permanent  sway  over  Asia.  Since  the  East  sent 
Wise  Men  to  worship  the  Redeemer,  so  will  the  East 
send  Kings  against  those  who  disobey  the  Redeemer. 
If  the  West  forgets  the  Christ  and  the  East,  at  long 
last,  finds  Him,  then  it  follows  that  His  authority  will 
be  exercised  through  the  nations  which  recognize  it. 

The  fact,  therefore,  that  we  must  face  is  this — there 
is  in  the  judgment  of  the  Almighty  no  privilege  of 
West  over  East.  If  the  East  obeys  the  Gospel,  it  will 
advance  inevitably  against  the  West,  if  the  West  dis- 
obeys the  Gospel.  Neither  climate,  nor  history,  nor 
race  will  prevail  against  that  supreme,  determining 
factor — what  think  ye  of  Christ?  We  must  not  sup- 
pose that  the  decline  of  religion,  say  in  London  or 
Paris  or  Berlin,  means  the  end  of  Christ's  mission  on 
earth.     The  danger  is  not  to  Christ  but  to  Berlin, 


202  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

Paris  and  London.     Apostasy  did  not  shake  God's 
throne,  but  as  we  shall  see,  it  did  destroy  Babylon. 

The  Three  Frogs. 

Armageddon  and  the  three  frogs  anticipate  the  sev- 
enth vial.  As  there  is  a  trinity  of  good — Fatherhood, 
Sonship  and  Holiness  of  Spirit, — so  there  is  a  trinity 
of  the  bad ;  an  orphaned  World,  an  unbrotherly  Flesh, 
and  a  Spirit  of  the  Devil.  There  is  three  times,  Holy, 
and  there  is  three  times.  Woe.  Three  times  was 
Christ  tempted  in  the  desert,  and  in  the  garden  three 
times  did  He  pray.  Three  times  did  Peter  deny  Him 
and  three  times  was  Peter  commanded  to  feed  the 
Good  Shepherd's  flock.  All  that  God  is  and  does 
meets  with  resistance  among  men. 

Evil  is  here  described  as,  first,  a  serpent,  next  a 
beast  and  finally  a  false  prophet.  The  serpent  or  devil 
is  father  of  lies  as  God  is  Father  of  Truth.  The  beast 
is,  as  we  have  seen,  the  World,  a  civilization  inspired 
by  lies,  a  godless  state  and  nation,  the  negative  to 
Christ,  the  Son.  The  false  prophet  is  whatever  in 
man's  mind  contradicts  and  repudiates  the  Spirit,  im- 
agining what  is  not  and  blind  to  what  is. 

The  Reptile  Press. 

Out  of  the  mouth  of  serpent,  beast  and  false  prophet 
leap  three  frogs.  It  suggests  the  grotesquerie  of  the 
middle  ages,  laughable  but  grimly  true.  John  recalled 
how  Egypt  in  all  the  pride  of  pyramids  and  temples 
and  palaces  had  been  humbled  by  the  loathsome  in- 
timacies of  the  frog.  At  first,  wickedness  is  impress- 
ive; you  see  the  crowns  on  the  ten  horns  of  the  beast; 
you  wonder  at  the  pomps  of  paganism.  But  as  one 
judgment   follows   another,  how  mean  becomes  the 


THE  SEVEN  VIALS  203 

evil  we  admire!  The  scandals  at  court,  the  vanities 
of  the  great,  the  avarice  of  the  successful,  the  little 
tricks  of  every  trade, — how  despicable!  All  the 
philosophies  and  conquests  are  reduced  to  the  mouth- 
ings  of  what  we  call,  repeating  John's  simile,  "  a  reptile 
press,"  petty,  ever  on  the  jump,  ever  leaving  a  trail 
of  malice  and  jealousy  and  hate.  And  ever  working 
miracles,  searching  for  a  sensation,  feeding  the  com- 
munity with  excitement,  stirring  up  war,  gathering 
nations  to  battle.  It  is,  indeed,  a  picture,  stern,  ironic, 
contemptuous,  of  modern  jingoism  and  triviality. 

When  the  seals  were  opened,  the  first  fact  to  be 
dealt  with  was  War — shown  in  the  four  horses  of  the 
Apocalypse.  But  John  has  since  looked  into  life 
more  deeply.  And  he  now  reveals  War  not  as  a  first 
but  as  a  fifth  plague,  as  the  result  and  summation  of 
evil,  not  as  the  beginning  of  it,  as  a  crime  to  which 
men  are  stirred  up  and  driven,  and  surrender  them- 
selves, not  as  a  mere  sudden  event. 

Armageddon. 

The  world  has  many  famous  battle-fields — ^Auster- 
litz,  Waterloo,  Gettysburg, — but  to  the  Jew,  the  for- 
tress and  plains  of  Megiddo,  where  Deborah  and  Barak 
defeated  Sisera,  represented  the  national  memory  of 
triumph.  Armageddon  is  this  Megiddo,  a  place  of 
agonizing  conflict  where,  however,  the  victory  is  with 
the  right.  Wicked  as  are  wars,  the  battle  where  men 
thus  strive  is  none  the  less  that  great  day  of  God 
Almighty.  Alexander  and  Napoleon  and  Moltke  may 
be  there  as  generals,  but  the  day  is  not  their  day.  Be- 
hold, says  John,  Look — amid  the  flame  and  smoke 
comes  One,  silent  and  unexpected  as  a  thief, — One 
Who  seems  to  have  no  place  there — the  Friend  of 


204  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

soldiers  under  fire, — claiming  His  own.  Even  In 
armies,  He  has  His  sentinels  watching.  Happy  are 
they  when  thus  they  do  watch.  His  garments  do  they 
wear  as  uniform  lest  they  march  into  battle  naked  of 
hope  and  faith  and  courage,  and  others  see  their  shame. 

And  so  the  seventh  angel  empties  his  vial,  not  on 
earth,  sea,  fountains  or  sun,  but  into  the  air — what  men 
breathe — their  atmosphere — what  we  call  public 
opinion.  The  climax  of  misery  is  in  the  mind — is  so- 
cial unrest — breaking  into  revolution.  Deal  with  the 
mind  and  will  and  there  is  nothing  left  to  deal  with — 
a  great  voice  out  of  the  temple  and  the  throne  says,  It 
is  finished.  Those  words,  It  is  finished, — where  had 
John  first  heard  them?  He  himself  tells  us.  There 
was  a  great  voice  from  the  Cross  that  cried,  It  is 
finished.  There  was  an  uttermost  obedience  of  Christ 
as  there  is  an  uttermost  disobedience  of  Society.  It  is 
the  final  challenge  between  our  Self-seeking  and  His 
vSelf-Sacrifice. 

The  theory  that  nations  are  held  together  by  reject- 
ing ideals  and  clinging  to  the  material  was  never  sup- 
ported by  John.  He  tells  of  voices,  first,  that  is  revolu- 
tionary propaganda.  Then  thunders  and  lightnings— 
the  sudden  insurrection  or  bomb-throwing  that  leaves 
things  as  they  were;  and  finally  of  an  unexampled 
earthquake,  or  upheaval,  involving  not  one  nation  only 
but  all  nations,  Babylon  being  universal  as  sin.  Em- 
pires are  split  up  into  three  parts;  their  cities  like 
Vienna  and  Petrograd  fall.  And  what  should  have 
been  a  trinity  in  social  unity  becomes  a  trinity  shattered 
by  social  dissension.  Islands  flee  away — those  con- 
venient and  protected  oases  where  in  universities 
and  similar  communities  we  like  to  cherish,  undis- 
turbed, our  favourite  culture;  and  mountains  are  not 


THE  SEVEN  YIALS  205 

found — all  privileges,  whether  of  birth  or  of  brain  or 
of  wealth,  are  swept  away.  What  comes  into  God's 
remembrance  is  Great  Babylon,  the  nations  as  a  whole ; 
and  as  citizens  we  are  all  held  responsible — we  have 
all  played  our  part.  And  on  men's  heads  fell  the 
plague  of  hail — a  gentle  rain  frozen  hard  by  unkindly 
winter — the  constant  shower  of  adverse  circumstances 
— ^men  competing  instead  of  cooperating — hitting  in- 
stead of  helping — a  plague  of  uncharity,  of  cheating, 
of  mistrust.  Every  act  about  the  weight  of  a  talent, — 
weighed,  that  is,  in  terms  of  money, — £.  s.  d., — dol- 
lars— francs — Judas  Iscariot's  thirty  pieces  of  silver 
returning  with  compound  interest ;  a  plague  exceeding 
great,  which  hammers  every  generous  emotion  to  the 
dust,  corrupting  games  themselves,  and  causing  the 
very  athletes  to  walk  crooked — a  marvellous  picture  of 
high  prices  and  crushing  taxation. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 
THE  RUIN  OF  BABYLON 


AND  there  came  one  of  the  seven  angels  which  had 
the  seven  vials,  and  talked  with  me,  saying  unto 
me,  Come  hither;  I  will  shew  unto  thee  the  judg- 
ment of  the  great  whore  that  sitteth  upon  many  waters: 
******* 
So  he  carried  me  away  in  the  spirit  into  the  wilderness : 
and  I  saw  a  woman  sit  upon  a  scarlet  coloured  beast,  full 
of  names  of  blasphemy,  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns. 
And  the  woman  was  arrayed  in  purple  and  scarlet  colour, 
and  decked  with  gold  and  precious  stones,  and  pearls,  hav- 
ing a  golden  cup  in  her  hand  full  of  abominations  and 
filthiness  of  her  fornication: 

And   upon   her   forehead   was  a  name   written,   MYS- 
TERY, BABYI.ON  THE  GREAT,  THE  MOTHER  OF 
HARLOTS  AND  ABOMINATIONS  OF  THE  EARTH. 
And    I    saw    the    woman    drunken    with    the    blood    of 
the  saints,  and  with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus : 

*?■  ^  *?*  •P  *?*  'I*  *f* 

And  here  is  the  mind  which  hath  wisdom.  The  seven 
heads  are  seven  mountains,  on  which  the  woman  sitteth. 

And  there  are  seven  kings :  five  are  fallen,  and  one  is, 
and  the  other  is  not  yet  come;  and  when  he  cometh,  he 
must  continue  a  short  space. 

And  the  beast  that  was,  and  is  not,  even  he  is  the  eighth, 
and  is  of  the  seven,  and  goeth  into  perdition. 

And  the  ten  horns  which  thou  sawest  are  ten  kings, 
which  have  received  no  kingdom  as  yet ;  but  receive  power 
as  kings  one  hour  with  the  beast. 

These  have  one  mind,  and  shall  give  their  power  and 
strength  unto  the  beast. 

These  shall  make  war  with  the  Lamb,  and  the  Lamb 
shall  overcome  them. 

******* 

And  he  saith  unto  me,  The  waters  which  thou  sawest, 
where  the  whore  sitteth,  are  peoples,  and  multitudes,  and 
nations,  and  tongues. 

^  ^  ^  SfC  S^  3|C  ^ 

And  after  these  things  I  saw  another  angel  come  down 
from  heaven,  having  great  power;  and  the  earth  was 
lightened  with  his  glory. 

And  he  cried  mightily  with  a  strong  voice,  saying,  Baby- 
lon the  great  is  fallen,  is  fallen,  and  is  become  the  habita- 
tion of  devils,  and  the  hold  of  every  foul  spirit,  and  a  cage 
of  every  unclean  and  hateful  bird. 

******* 

—Revelation  17,  i8:i;-6. 


XXIII 
THE  RUIN  OF  BABYLON 

THE  seven  seals  have  been  opened,  the  seven  trump- 
ets have  sounded  and  the  seven  vials  are  empty, 
and  we  have  now  to  watch,  in  one  completed  drama, 
the  fall  of  Babylon  and  the  rise  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 
As  a  student  of  the  Jewish  prophets,  John  of  Patmos 
was  familiar  with  their  habit  of  declaring  "  the  bur- 
den "  of  surrounding  nations,  of  Edom  and  Nineveh 
and  Tyre — a  burden  of  sin  and  misery  and  wrong — a 
burden  borne  by  many  a  nation  to-day.  Living  in  the 
Roman  Empire,  John  saw  Babylon,  not  as  one  city  or 
country  but  as  an  international  organism,  embracing 
peoples  and  multitudes  and  nations  and  tongues.  To 
Babylon,  the  frontiers  were  not  geographical  but 
economic,  moral,  spiritual.  Babylon  was  served  by  a 
mercantile  marine,  with  ship-masters,  a  company  or 
passengers,  and  crews.  Merchants  conducted  her  trade 
and  for  bullion  and  ornament  she  had  silver  and  gold. 
In  the  record  of  that  trade,  by  an  ominous  perversion, 
luxuries  for  the  few  are  allowed  precedence  over  ne- 
cessities for  the  many,  while  the  claims  of  the  soul  come 
last.  We  begin  with  precious  stones  and  pearls  and 
fine  linen  and  purple  and  silk  and  scarlet  and  all  sweet 
zvoods,  for  inlaying  furniture,  and  all  manner  vessels 
of  ivory,  for  my  lady's  dressing  table,  and  all  manner 
vessels  of  most  precious  wood,  and  of  brass,  and  iron, 

209 


210  THE  VISION  WE  FOUGET 

and  marble,  and  cinnamon,  and  odours,  and  ointments, 
and  frankincense, — quite  like  an  advertisement  of  a 
great  retail  business ! — and  only  after  this  do  we  come 
to  wine  and  oil  and  fine  flour  and  wheat  and  cattle  mid 
sheep.  Even  militarism — horses  and  chariots — comes 
late  in  the  list,  as  if  the  final  danger  to  society  were 
not  the  sacrifices  of  war  but  the  indulgences  of  peace. 
And  finally  as  an  ironic  afterthought,  we  have  men- 
tioned the  bodies  and  souls  of  men.  Not  a  word  of 
the  poor,  except  this;  not  a  word  of  worship  or  re- 
demption or  missions  or  Christ.  There  was  now  no 
place  for  Him,  not  even  in  the  Inn — now  grown  to  be 
great  hotels. 

The  Lady  of  Fashion. 

As  a  simple  fisherman,  so  born  and  bred,  whose 
pure  mind  saw  God  even  in  the  Roman  Empire,  John 
of  Patmos  gives  us  two  Visions  of  Womanhood.  Of 
the  first,  we  have  read  in  chapter  twelve — Every- 
woman — glorious  in  motherhood,  natural  in  her  in- 
stincts, yet  driven  from  pillar  to  post  by  social  condi- 
tions. To  John,  who,  like  Jesus,  dwelt  among  com- 
mon folk,  that  picture  came  easily  enough.  He  had 
now  to  learn  that  all  women  are  not  thus  madonnas 
and  that  there  is  also  to  be  faced  the  Lady  of  Fashion. 
Everywoman  was  persecuted;  this  Lady  is  pampered. 
The  dragon  pursued  Everywoman  but  this  Lady  rides 
on  the  Beast,  bearing  no  burden  herself  but  herself  a 
burden  to  others.  Everywoman  was  driven  by  cir- 
cumstances into  a  wilderness  of  poverty.  This  Lady 
lives  in  a  zmlderness  of  wealth,  of  desolated  hopes, 
withered  innocence,  remorseful  memory  and  barren 
ambition.  It  is  only  under  compulsion  that  John  will 
look  upon  her.     The  angel,  in  talking  things  over,  has 


THE  KUIN  OF  BABYLON  211 

to  persuade  him  that  it  is  his  apostolic  duty.  He  has 
to  be  commanded,  Come  up  hither.  He  has  to  be  car- 
ried away,  despite  himself,  by  the  Spirit  of  Truth.  An 
angel's  warning,  as  of  a  trumpet,  is  not  enough  for  the 
world.  The  last  final  note  of  impending  peril  must 
be  sounded  by  one  who  is  a  brother  and  companion  in 
tribulation. 

The  Lady  of  Fashion  is  so  richly  arrayed  and  with 
such  a  queenly  taste  that  on  seeing  her,  even  John 
zvondered  with  great  admiration.  Her  costume  was 
of  purple  and  scarlet  colour  and  she  was  decked  with 
gold  and  precious  stones.  But  the  aim  of  these  things 
was  to  attract  notice  to  herself.  And  whereas  Every- 
woman  had  a  face  that  welcomed  the  sun,  we  do  not 
read  of  a  sun  shining  on  Babylon,  but  only  of  candles, 
an  artificial  illumination,  night  turned  into  day  and 
day  turned  into  night.  Doubtless  it  is  from  a  golden 
cup  that  with  unsteady  hand  the  Lady  of  Fashion 
drinks  the  wine  of  life.  But  the  actual  draught  is  de- 
scribed as  abominations  and  filthiness  of  her  fornica- 
tions. At  heart  of  her,  this  Lady  of  Fashion  is 
a  harlot,  nay  more,  the  mother  of  harlots,  of  girls 
drawn  into  her  pitiless  net  of  social  intrigue,  married 
at  her  whim  for  money  or  notoriety;  she  is  mother  of 
abominations,  of  drugs  and  drink  and  witchcraft,  of 
spiritualism  and  decadence  and  dice  and  all  manner  of 
gambling  with  human  destiny. 

Her  Luxuries. 

Vast,  varied  and  far  in  its  reach  is  the  influence 
wielded  by  the  Lady  of  Fashion.  She  simply  is  Baby- 
lon the  Great.  Let  her  leave  on  her  yacht,  and  every- 
body is  out  of  town.  The  place  is  "  empty,"  except 
for  the  rest  of  us.     She  sits  upon  many  waters.     For 


212  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

her,  India  sends  silks,  and  Africa  ivory,  and  Australia 
feathers.  At  her  court,  kings  commit  fornication — 
kings  of  all  kinds.  Journalists,  for  her  sake,  suppress 
the  truth.  Artists,  for  her  sake,  paint  the  rich  and  ig- 
nore the  poor.  Financiers,  for  her  sake,  deal  dubi- 
ously in  stocks  and  shares.  Politicians,  for  her  sake, 
buy  and  sell  tainted  titles.  About  it  there  is,  of  course, 
a  certain  glamour.  On  the  pavement  before  her  man- 
sion stand  unconsidered  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth, 
drunk  with  the  wine  of  her  fornication,  but  only  drunk, 
not  dead,  and  what  about  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth 
when  they  wake  from  the  spell,  disillusioned  and  with 
head  and  heart  aching? 

Her  Contempt  for  Religion. 

Of  religion,  the  Lady  of  Fashion  is  contemptuous. 
She  attends  the  opera  and  there  hears  the  voice  of 
harpers,  and  musicians,  and  of  pipers,  and  of  trumpet- 
ers, but  that  is  her  only  approach  to  reverence.  To 
her,  life  is  still  the  amphitheatre,  where  the  Lady  of 
Fashion  sits  prominent,  claiming  all  and  sacrificing 
nothing,  while  below  her,  in  an  arena  which  she  would 
disdain  to  enter,  these  saints,  these  martyrs  of  Jesus, 
these  narrow-minded  impossible  evangelicals  spend 
their  energies,  shed  their  blood,  their  only  use  being  to 
furnish  a  sensation  for  the  upper  classes,  to  intoxicate 
society.  Borne  by  the  Beast,  with  its  seven  heads  and 
ten  horns  all  ftdl  of  names  of  blasphemy,  the  Lady  of 
Fashion  sneers  at  every  sacrifice  endured  by  the  faith- 
ful disciples  of  Him  Who,  to  save  Mary  Magdalene 
from  seven  devils,  died  on  the  Cross. 

In  her  glittering  wretchedness,  she  is  a  mystery. 
And  the  angel  unfolded  it  It  is  a  mystery  of  power 
and  opportunity  abused.     The  Beast  or  Living  Crea- 


THE  KUIISr  OF  BABYLON  213 

ture  is,  as  in  chapter  thirteen,  our  ever-changing  but 
essentially  changeless  industrial  system.  It  zvas,  it 
was  not,  and  then,  again,  it  is.  Commerce,  as  of 
Rome,  vanishes;  commerce,  as  of  Venice,  develops; 
people  whose  names  are  not  in  the  book  of  life,  look 
on  bewildered  and  can  find  no  clue  to  these  fluctuating 
tides.  They  argue  without  reference  to  the  heart — 
that  bottomless  pit  whence  arises,  as  Our  Lord  knew, 
every  selfish  purpose,  which  purpose  spends  itself  in 
perdition,  or  mere  nothing.  There  you  have,  in  a 
word,  the  secret  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  empires  and 
nations. 

Herein,  says  the  angel,  is  the  mind  that  has  wisdom 
— not  to  think,  as  we  often  do,  that  a  mere  change  in 
the  form  of  Babylon,  in  her  system  of  government  or 
of  economics,  will  bring  in  the  New  Jerusalem,  but  to 
watch  those  changes  calmly,  to  record  them  as  John 
does  with  a  cool  lucidity,  knowing  that  Babylon  is  still 
Babylon,  until  Christ  comes  to  reign.  On  seven  hills, 
as  of  Rome,  the  Lady  of  Fashion  ever  has  her  dwell- 
ing, enjoying  every  privilege,  every  security,  every 
honour,  essentially  the  same  grande  dame  sans  mercie, 
under  the  ancient  regime  of  the  Empire.  Dynasties  of 
seven  kings, — once  more  the  perfect  or  destined  num- 
ber— are  approaching  an  end, — five  have  lived  and 
died,  a  sixth  reigns,  and  only  a  seventh  is  to  come. 
Slowly  but  surely,  the  hereditary  principle  is  passing 
into  republicanism.  As  eighth  monarch  zve  have  for 
a  zvhile  the  Beast  or  Living  Creature,  the  community 
organized  on  a  constitutional  basis,  and  then  the  ten 
horns  push  in,  emblem  of  secular  yet  civil  force, 
mighty  combinations  of  labour  and  capital,  which  seize 
and  exercise  governing  power  again  for  a  while. 
These  industrial  organisms  achieve  a  certain  purpose 


214  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

in  line  with  the  will  of  God.  Believing  in  efficiency, 
they  hate  the  Lady  of  Fashion  and  her  extravagances ; 
insisting  on  a  stern  discipline,  like  Prohibition,  they 
make  her  desolate;  from  time  to  time,  they  leave  her 
naked  or  bankrupt;  they  eat  her  flesh,  foreclose  her 
mortgages  and  dispose  of  her  effects;  they  burn  her 
with  fire — ^her  chateaus  and  pavilions.  When  human- 
ity discovers  that  it  cannot  afford  the  Lady  of  Fashion, 
perforce  she  disappears. 

But  these  movements  of  revolution,  though  prepara- 
tory to  the  Great  Event,  are  not,  as  such,  of  Christ. 
Capital  and  Labour  may  dispose  of  ancient  institu- 
tions, but  their  motive  is  still  selfishness;  their  aim  is 
not  yet  self-sacrifice;  their  mentality  is,  as  Sir  Philip 
Gibbs  expresses  it,  that  of  robber  barons — they  make 
war  on  the  Lamb.  What  the  world  needs  is  still  the 
larger  love  that  includes  the  world ;  and  that  love  pre- 
vails— the  Lamb  shall  overcome  them.  Because  love 
is  the  strongest  thing  in  the  v^orld  and  He  loved  to  the 
uttermost,  therefore  is  He  inevitably  King  of  Kings 
and  Lord  of  Lords. 

The  Angel  of  Selfishness. 

Having  dealt  with  armies  and  thrones  and  society 
and  commerce,  John  now  foresees  a  new  factor  in  our 
affairs — an  angel  coming  down  from  heaven,  having 
great  power,  so  that  the  earth  was  lightened  with  his 
glory.  His  only  weapon  was  what  he  said — he  cried 
mightily  with  a  strong  voice — and  what  he  cried  was  a 
piece  of  news — Babylon  the  great  is  fallen.  Here  in 
the  Apocalypse,  you  have,  perhaps,  the  first  unmis- 
takable headline  for  a  morning  paper.  It  Is  brief, 
clear,  challenging — a  perfect  piece  of  modern  journal- 
ism.    Organized  by  the  printing  press,  you  have  as  a 


THE  EUIN  OF  BABYLON  215 

force  for  the  first  time  that  conscience  which  lighteneth 
every  man  who  comes  into  the  world — not  peculiarly 
an  ecclesiastical  or  Christian  conscience  but  the  general 
judgment  of  mankind, — what  is  called  public  opinion, 
— expressed  in  a  thousand  ways,  by  political  parties, 
philanthropic  societies,  municipal  councils  and  all  the 
varied  propaganda  of  modern  life.  There  is  at  last  a 
world-wide  sentim.ent — nothing  more  as  yet — on  the 
side  of  Christ  and  against  Babylon. 

The  Fall  of  Babylon. 

What  guides  this  sentiment  is  the  exposure  of  Baby- 
lon's abuses.  In  her  corruption,  as  here  described,  we 
find  once  more  the  trinity  of  evil, — she  is  the  habita- 
tion of  devils,  the  hold  of  every  foul  spirit,  and  a  cage 
of  every  unclean  and  hatefid  bird.  In  Babylon,  evil 
dwells,  evil  defends  itself  and  evil  is  encaged.  You 
have  the  devils  in  possession ;  you  have,  as  in  the  zvorld, 
foul  spirits  in  action ;  and  the  result  is  the  flesh, — every 
unclean  and  hateful  bird.  A  feature  of  Babylon's  de- 
cadence is  the  profiteering.  Through  the  abundance 
of  her  delicacies,  merchants  are  zvaxed  rich.  As  Baby- 
lon falls,  these  merchants,  rendering  her  no  help,  stand 
afar,  zveeping  and  wailing, — not  with  the  sorrow  of 
Christ  Who  wept  over  Jerusalem,  but  only  lamenting 
that  their  ozvn  riches  had  come  to  naught.  Similarly, 
the  shipowners,  whose  business  depended  on  Babylon's 
costliness,  lament  at  finding  her  desolate.  In  this  pic- 
ture, there  are  lines  that  seem  to  be  written  expressly 
for  Europe  to-day  and  for  any  civilization  that  makes 
Europe's  mistakes.  Music  declines — the  voice  of 
harpers,  and  musicians,  and  of  pipers,  and  of  trumpet- 
ers shall  be  heard  no  more  in  thee.  Industry  is  para- 
lyzed— no  craftsman,  of  zvhatsoever  craft  he  be,  shall 


216  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

be  found  any  more  in  thee.  Food  is  no  longer  pro- 
duced— the  sound  of  a  millstone  shall  he  heard  no 
more  at  all  in  thee.  Illumination  is  dimmed — the  light 
of  a  candle  shall  shine  no  more  at  all  in  thee,  and  home 
is  shattered — there  are  neither  brides  nor  bridegrooms. 
The  marriage  tie  is  no  longer  sacred.  And  the  reason 
is  that  merchants  are  the  great  men;  success  is  the  su- 
preme aim  in  life,  while  prophets  and  saints — they  who 
see  and  they  who  serve — are  slain  upon  earth;  neg- 
lected, put  on  one  side. 

All  this  you  will  find  in  the  newspapers, — it  is  writ- 
ten on  the  face  of  Austria  and  Russia — it  is  Moscow 
and  Vienna  and  Petrograd  visualized — but  it  is  not  the 
whole  story.  Within  Babylon,  there  is  a  company, 
described  as  called  and  chosen  and  faithful,  who  be- 
long to  the  Lamb.  It  is  the  Church,  as  Crusader,  ral- 
lied around  the  Captain  of  Salvation.  These  soldiers 
of  the  Cross  are  free — called,  not  compelled.  They  are 
chosen,  each  for  his  post.  They  are  faithful  to  their 
oath.  For  them,  the  voice  of  public  opinion,  even 
where  it  is  justified,  is  not  enough.  They  hear  another 
voice  from  heaven,  personal  to  each  as  to  John,  Come 
out  of  her,  my  people,  that  ye  be  not  partakers  of  her 
sins,  and  that  ye  receive  not  her  plagues.  There  is  to 
be  a  definite  distinction  drawn  between  the  customs 
and  aims  of  those  who  take  upon  them  the  name  of 
Christ  and  others  who  do  not.  It  may  be  in  the  form 
of  an  avoidance  of  pleasures  which  are  open  to  the 
multitude,  like  the  dance,  drink  and  the  drama.  It 
may  mean  the  performance  of  tasks  which  are  evaded 
by  the  multitude,  like  missionary  and  social  duties.  It 
is  a  deeper  difference  than  any  detail,  like  card-playing 
or  racing.  It  involves  direction — the  point  of  the 
compass  to  which  the  face  is  turned. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
THE  CHRIST  ON  CRUSADE 


AND  after  these  things  I  heard  a  great  voice  of  much 
people  in  heaven,  saying,  Alleluia;  Salvation,  and 
glory,  and  honour,  and  power,  unto  the  Lord  our 
God: 
For  true  and  righteous  are  his  judgments. 

******* 

And  again  they  said.  Alleluia.  And  her  smoke  rose  up 
for  ever  and  ever. 

And  the  four  and  twenty  elders  and  the  four  beasts  fell 
down  and  worshipped. 

******* 

Let  us  be  glad  and  rejoice,  and  give  honour  to  him :  for 
the  marriage  of  the  Lamb  is  come,  and  his  wife  hath  made 
herself  ready. 

And  to  her  was  granted  that  she  should  be  arrayed  in 
fine  linen,  clean  and  white:  for  the  fine  linen  is  the 
righteousness  of  saints. 

******* 

And  I  saw  heaven  opened,  and  behold,  a  white  horse; 
and  he  that  sat  upon  him  was  called  Faithful  and  True,  and 
in  righteousness  he  doth  judge  and  make  war. 

His  eyes  were  as  a  flame  of  fire,  and  on  his  head  were 
many  crowns;  and  he  had  a  name  written,  that  no  man 
knew  but  he  himself. 

And  he  was  clothed  with  a  vesture  dipped  in  blood:  and 
his  name  is  called  The  Word  of  God. 

And  the  armies  which  were  in  heaven  followed  him  upon 
white  horses,  clothed  in  fine  linen,  white  and  clean. 

And  out  of  his  mouth  goeth  a  sharp  sword,  that  with  it 
he  should  smite  the  nations:  and  he  shall  rule  them  with 
a  rod  of  iron :  and  he  treadeth  the  w^inepress  of  the  fierce- 
ness and  wrath  of  Almighty  God. 

And  he  hath  on  his  vesture  and  on  his  thigh  a  name 
written,  KING  OF  KINGS,  AND  LORD  OF  LORDS. 

And  I  saw  an  angel  standing  in  the  sun;  and  he  cried 
with  a  loud  voice,  saying  to  all  the  fowls  that  fly  in  the 
midst  of  heaven,  Come  and  gather  yourselves  together 
unto  the  supper  of  the  great  God; 

That  ye  may  eat  the  flesh  of  kings,  and  the  flesh  of  cap- 
tains. 

******* 

And  I  saw  the  beast,  and  the  kings  of  the  earth,  and  their 
armies,  gathered  together  to  make  war  against  him  that  sat 
on  the  horse,  and  against  his  army. 

And  the  beast  was  taken,  and  with  him  the  false  prophet 
that  wrought  miracles  before  him,  with  which  he  deceived 
them  that  had  received  the  mark  of  the  beast,  and  them 
that  worshipped  his  image.  These  both  were  cast  alive  into 
a.  lake  of  fire  burning  with  brimstone. 

— RjBVEl<ATiON  19. 


XXIV 
THE  CHRIST  ON  CRUSADE 

THERE  are  those  who  think  that  if  we  are  called 
upon  to  leave  the  delights  of  Babylon,  nothing 
remains  for  us  but  a  dull  and  cheerless  piety.  That 
was  not  what  John  saw  in  his  Vision.  As  Babylon  fell 
in  ruins,  as  the  saloons  were  closed  and  the  haunts  of 
vice,  so  did  happiness  increase,  much  people  being 
found  in  heaven,  the  region  of  bliss,  here  and  here- 
after. They  were  people  whose  voice  was  praise,  a 
great  voice,  saying  Alleluia,  and  ascribing  to  our  God 
their  personal  heritage,  the  glory  and  honour  and 
power,  which  follow,  not  conquest  and  luxury,  but 
salvation.  They  held  that  God's  estimate  of  fashion- 
able society  was  true  and  righteous,  and  that  in  the  de- 
struction of  a  corrupt  society  itself  lay  the  legitimate 
avenging  of  the  blood  of  His  servants.  As  ancient 
wrongs  were  thus  swept  away,  they  again  said  Alleluia, 
and  they  watched,  as  historians  study,  the  smoke,  or 
memory,  of  Babylon  rising  up,  for  ever  and  ever,  not 
to  be  forgotten  while  language  is  spoken.  In  the 
midst  of  that  growing  company  of  the  redeemed,  still 
sat  the  four  and  twenty  elders,  surviving  all  the  criti- 
cism and  neglect  of  Scripture,  and  now  sharing  the 
praise  of  the  multitudes  who  came  later — Amen: 
Alleluia.  The  elders  fell  down  and  worshipped,  their 
work  done,  and  their  authority  as  prophets,  priests  and 
patriarchs  finally  merged  in  the  Christ  Who  is  all  in 

219 


220  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

all,  and  of  those  four  and  twenty  on  their  thrones,  this 
is,  I  think,  the  final  leave-taking.  In  the  City  of  God, 
there  is  to  be  no  aristocracy,  even  of  learning  and  of 
piety,  but  Christ  is  to  be  the  centre  of  adoration. 

Then  was  heard  once  more  a  voice  from  the  throne, 
always,  I  think,  the  voice  of  Christ  Himself,  com- 
manding praise,  as  the  very  breath  of  His  servants,  both 
small  and  great,  and  of  all  who  fear  Him.  Vengeance 
was  righteous,  but  praise  is  joyful,  a  gladness,  as  of  the 
marriage  feast;  and  the  voice  of  Our  Lord,  previously 
likened  unto  the  voice  of  many  waters,  is  now  at  last 
echoed  as  a  voice  of  many  waters,  not  less  tender,  not 
less  strong,  by  the  mighty  thunders  of  a  redeemed 
democracy.  At  the  moment,  these  disciples,  though 
now  numerous  and  powerful,  were  only  a  part  of  the 
human  race,  a  bride  made  ready  for  the  zvedding,  that 
perfect  union  of  God's  will  in  heaven,  done  by  us  upon 
earth.  To  the  Church,  so  emergent  from  obscurity, 
was  granted  fine  linen  raiment,  clean  and  white,  that 
is  the  righteousness  of  saints, — a  grant  or  gift,  not 
inherited  or  acquired,  but  won  by  Another  for  the 
Church — a  raiment  unspotted  by  blood,  as  of  a  vesture 
to  be  mentioned  in  a  moment — meaning  in  that  respect 
that  the  righteousness  of  saints  is  for  them  alone ;  that 
if  others  want  it,  they  must  come,  as  the  saints  came, 
not  to  the  Church,  but  to  the  Christ  Himself. 

In  the  presence  of  the  Church,  John  suddenly  found 
that  he  had  company  in  heaven.  At  his  elbow  there 
was  an  unknown  friend.  It  was  a  church  where  a 
stranger  from  another  world  was  made  immediately 
welcome.  ''  Surely/'  said  this  disciple  to  John,  ''  you 
ivill  write  in  your  hook  how  happy  they  are  who  are 
called  to  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb.  It  is  not 
a  vision  only  but  the  true  sayings  of  God."    And  John, 


THE  CHEIST  ON  CBUSADE  221 

looking  on  this  transfigured  doorkeeper  in  the  house  of 
the  Lord,  forgot  his  apostleship  and  fell  at  his  feet  to 
worship.  Do  it  not,  said  the  unknown  disciple,  add- 
ing that  what  had  thus  ennobled  him  was  simply  the 
testimony  of  Jesus — which,  he  said,  is  the  spirit — the 
essence — of  foresight.  Know  Him  and  you  can  read 
the  future. 

And  then  it  was  that  John  saw  once  more  heaven 
opened,  and,  behold  a  white  horse.  In  this  war,  now 
to  be  declared  against  evil,  there  is  to  be  no  red  horse 
of  slaughter,  no  black  horse  of  famine,  no  pale  horse 
of  disease  and  of  death.  The  horse  represents  a  pure 
and  disinterested  purpose,  conquering  the  base  things 
in  human  affairs.  Only  in  righteousness  does  the 
Christ  judge  and  make  war.  He  is  Faithful  to  com- 
rades and  True  to  facts. 

When  John  of  Patmos  first  saw  the  Christ  in  glory, 
it  was  as  a  personal  friend  standing  amid  the  candle- 
sticks— that  is,  the  Churches.  Having  so  realized  the 
Saviour,  he  now  sees  Him  a  second  time,  in  His  second 
coming,  as  the  Christ  on  Crusade,  winning  His  way  to 
a  supreme  earthly  influence.  His  weapons  are  two — 
the  eye  of  fire  that  exposes  and  consumes  the  wrong, 
and  the  sword  of  the  mouth  that  smites  the  evil-doer. 
Yet  majestic  as  is  His  appearance,  He  zvas  clothed  in 
a  vesture  dipped  in  blood;  His  heart  still  bled  for  our 
sin  and  sorrow,  nor  were  His  wounds  yet  healed. 

Men  realized  His  power  at  last — on  His  vesture  and 
on  His  thigh, — on  His  righteousness  and  in  His  per- 
son,— they  could  see  plainly  that  He  was  now  King  of 
Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords.  On  His  head  were  many 
crowns, — crowned  was  He  by  art  and  literature  and 
social  service  and  even  by  commerce  and  politics.  But 
there  was  a  name  that  He  only  knew  Himself.     There 


222  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

was  a  Love  that  He  only  could  fathom.  All  that  men 
could  say  of  this  name  was  that,  however  it  found  ut- 
terance, it  was,  as  John  of  Patmos  wrote  in  his  gospel, 
the  Word  of  God.  He  it  is — the  returning  Christ — 
who  treadeth  out  the  winepress  of  the  wrath  of  God — 
in  whose  labour  the  good  in  society  is  painfully  wrung 
from  the  bad. 

There  are  armies  in  heaven,  mounted  as  He  on  white 
horses,  and  clad  as  He  in  white  raiment, — though 
without  His  Field  Marshal's  stripes  of  red  and  re- 
deeming blood, — who  follow  Him  to  earth — who  leave 
riches  and  success  for  service  and  sacrifice — ^who  are 
proud  to  fight  in  a  company  where  only  the  Captain 
was  eternally  wounded.  Here  then  was  to  be  the 
Church  Militant — radiant  in  the  crusade  of  the  per- 
sonal Christ — and  going  forth  with  Him  to  win  the 
nations  and  to  change  churches  into  cities  of  God. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

THE  MILLENNIUM  AND 
THE  THRONE 


AND  I  saw  an  angel  come  down  from  heaven,  having 
the  key  of  the  bottomless  pit  and  a  great  chain  in 
his  hand. 
And  he  laid  hold  on  the  dragon,  that  old  serpent,  which 
is  the  Devil,  and  Satan,  and  bouiid  him  a  thousand  years. 
And  cast  him  into  the  bottomless  pit,  and  shut  lum  up, 
and  set  a  seal  upon  him. 

******* 
And  I  saw  thrones,  and  they  sat  upon  them,  and  judg- 
ment was  given  unto  them :    and  /  saw  the  souls  of  them 
that  were  beheaded  for  the  witness  of  Jesus,    *    *    *    and 
they  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ  a  thousand  years. 

But  the  rest  of  the  dead  lived  not  again  until  the  thou- 
sand years  were  finished.    This  is  the  first  resurrection. 
*  *  *  *  *  *  * 

And  when  the  thousand  years  are  expired,  Satan  shall  be 
loosed  out  of  his  prison, 

And  shall  go  out  to  deceive  the  nations  which  are  in  the 
four  quarters  of  the  earth,  Gog  and  Magog,  to  gather  them 
together  to  battle :  the  number  of  whom  is  as  the  sand  of 
the  sea. 

And  they  went  up  on  the  breadth  of  the  earth,  and  com- 
passed the  camp  of  the  saints  about,  and  the  beloved  city: 
and  fire  came  down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  and  devoured 
them. 

And  the  devil  that  deceived  them  was  cast  into  the  lake 
of  fire  and  brimstone,  where  the  beast  and  the  false 
prophet  are,  and  shall  be  tormented  day  and  night  for  ever 
and  ever. 

And  I  saw  a  great  white  throne,  and  him  that  sat  on  it, 
from  whose  face  the  earth  and  the  heaven  fled  away;  and 
there  was  found  no  place  for  them. 

And  I  saw  the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand  before  God; 
and  the  books  were  opened :  and  another  book  was  opened, 
which  is  the  book  of  life :  and  the  dead  were  judged  out  of 
those  things  which  were  written  in  the  books,  according  to 
their  works. 

And  the  sea  gave  up  the  dead  which  were  in  it;  and 
death  and  hell  delivered  up  the  dead  which  were  in  them : 
and  they  were  judged  every  man  according  to  their  works. 

And  death  and  hell  were  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire.  This 
is  the  second  death. 

And  whosoever  was  not  found  written  in  the  book  of  life 
was  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire. 

— Revei^ation  20. 


XXV 

THE  MILLENNIUM  AND  THE  THRONE 

SO  many  have  been  mystified  by  the  millennium 
that  I  am  surprised  to  find  it  so  simple.  It  is  a 
period  that  follows  the  fall  of  Babylon,  and  Babylon 
means  any  society  of  nations  that  resembles — to  give 
two  instances,  the  Roman  Empire  in  decay  or  Europe 
before  the  Great  War.  Ten  is  the  secular  number, 
and  this  period,  being  one  thousand  years,  or  ten  mul- 
tiplied by  ten  and  again  by  ten,  expresses  what  we 
sometimes  call  an  era  of  political  and  social  reform, 
real  while  it  lasts,  permanent  in  its  effects,  but  subject 
to  a  later  reaction,  when  the  Devil  again  escapes.  It  is 
not  that  there  is  as  yet  a  Democracy  which  freely  wel- 
comes the  Christ.  He  still  rules  zvith  a  rod  of  iron. 
It  is  under  compulsion  only  that  the  majority  accept 
the  example  of  His  followers  and  give  up  evils  like 
slavery  and  liquor  and  vices.  In  numerous  move- 
ments, battling  against  wrong  with  a  disinterested  zeal, 
we  see  Christ  on  His  White  Horse,  with  His  Crusaders 
around  Him.  Here  is  the  Redeemer,  leading  His 
Church  into  regions  of  philanthropy  and  administra- 
tion. It  is  the  ideal  of  Theocracy,  often  attempted 
locally,  as  by  Cromwell,  but  becoming  world-wide  in 
application. 

The  Shadow  of  Selfishness. 

Not  less  plain  to  the  sight  is  the  angel  standing  in 
the  sun — ^who  throws  over  the  nations,  therefore,  so 

225 


226  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

dark  a  shadow, — the  angel  of  selfishness,  of  vested  in- 
terests, who  desires  his  own  happiness  at  others'  ex- 
pense. He  addresses  himself  to  the  fowls  that  fly  in 
the  midst  of  heaven,  the  carrion  crows  of  civilization, 
who,  as  Our  Lord  foresaw,  would  gather  even  in  the 
boughs  of  that  mustard  tree  which  was  to  him  a  sym- 
bol of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The  smart  set,  the  men 
about  town,  the  racing  fraternity, — these  are  the  birds 
that  form  the  selfish  angel's  congregation,  and  bitterly 
defiant  is  his  discourse.  Marriage  supper  of  the 
Lamb! — ^he  cries — Come  and  gather  yourselves  to- 
gether and  I  will  show  you  what  is  meant  by  the  sup- 
per of  the  Great  God!  It  is  the  rally  of  reactionaries 
who  fear  the  new  day  that  is  dawning.  To  the  selfish 
angel,  the  light  means  ruin.  The  flesh  and  all  that 
panders  to  it,  must  disappear  as  if  eaten.  Kings  will 
lose  their  luxuries;  captains,  their  privilege;  hunting 
men,  their  horses;  indeed,  all  classes,  bond  and  free, 
small  and  great,  widow  and  orphan,  will  feel  the 
change  and  resent  it.  Naturally,  the  selfishness  in 
mankind  makes  common  cause — kings  and  the  beast, 
meaning  organized  society,  and  their  armies,  meaning 
the  people,  gather  together  against  the  Christ,  Who 
wins,  however,  a  bloodless  victory  with  the  sword  of 
His  mouth — the  force  of  argument,  as  at  an  election. 
The  Beast — that  is,  organized  society — is  taken,  and 
the  false  prophet  also — signifying,  with  its  miracles, 
the  literature  of  Pagan  sensation;  and  these  are  cast 
alive  into  the  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone — are  clean 
obliterated  by  the  force  of  public  disapproval.  Con- 
demned by  the  Christ,  the  remnants  of  evil  are  driven 
underground.  But  there  are  still  fowls  of  the  air 
ready  to  batten  on  the  flesh — that  lies  as  carrion  amid 
the  momentary  confusion. 


THE  MILLEimiUM  AND  THE-THKONE    227 

The  Reign  of  Law. 

After  this  triumph  of  right  over  wrong,  the  angel 
no  longer  stands  in  the  sun,  but  is  seen  once  more  on 
his  belly,  just  that  same  old  serpent  which  is  the  Devil 
and  Satan— thQ  third  element  in  the  triumvirate  of 
evil,  powerful  when  the  Christ  is  unrealized,  but  im- 
potent when  the  Christ  is  again  amongst  us.     For 
there  emerges  from  God's  presence  a  new  angel,  one 
determined  that  God's  will  be  done  on  earth  as  m 
heaven,  an  angel  of  restraining  law,  bearing  a  great 
c/zam,— accurate  picture  of  criminal  jurisprudence  as 
ordained  in  a  modern  state.     He  lays  hold  of  the 
dragon  and  binds  him  a  thousand  years,  so  imprisonmg 
him  in  the  bottomless  pit  of  human  passion.     There 
you  have  prohibition— the  gospel  as  deterrent— fac- 
tory regulations,— good  housing— a  capable  force  of 
detectives  —  an   admirable   and   effective   system   of 

prisons. 

At  first  John  had  seen  the  martyrs  as  souls,  hud- 
dled around  the  altar  in  heaven  and  calling  for  re- 
venge. Then  he  had  watched  them  at  rest,  and  so 
recovering  from  their  affliction.  Later,  he  had  heard 
them  praise  the  Almighty  Father  and  now  he  sees  them 
living  and  reigning  with  Christ.  There  were  thrones 
in  the  world  and  these  were  the  men  who  sat  on  them 
and  gave  judgment.  As  the  presence  of  Christ  is  nmni- 
fested  among  the  nations,  so  does  He  brmg  with  Him 
those  who  have  been  His  witnesses.  Their  words 
carry  weight.  Their  example  is  followed.  It  is  a 
characteristic  of  the  millennium  that  the  best  m  Chris- 
tian thought  is  revived,  not  precisely  as  it  used  to  be, 
but  as  Christ  rose  from  the  dead,— glorified,  with 
ampler,  fuller  meaning.  Happy  indeed  and  holy  are 
those  who  have  their  part  in  that  first  resurrection;  on 


228  THE  VISlOl^  WE  FOKGET 

them,  the  second  death — the  final  oblivion — has  no 
power.  Their  prestige,  their  influence  is  forever  se- 
cure. 

Gog  and  Magog. 

But  it  is  not  enough  that  the  world  should  be  ruled 
by  Christians,  according  to  Christ's  plan.  There  can 
be  no  permanent  peace  until  the  world,  meaning  indi- 
viduals all  over  the  world,  are  Christians,  and  as  long 
as  the  Devil  is  only  chained  in  the  bottomless  pit  of  our 
depravity,  we  may  be  sure  that  he  will  he  loosed  one 
day  from  his  prison  and  that  the  eternal  war  between 
good  and  evil  will  be  waked  anew.  It  is  universal  not 
racial  war,  covering  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth,  a 
war  involving  multitudes  as  the  sand  of  the  sea,  all  the 
old  incoherent  barbarisms  and  prejudices  of  Magog 
with  Gog,  their  king,  gathered  hy  deceit  to  battle — 
anything  to  compass  or  besiege  the  camp  of  the  saints 
and  the  city  they  are  building.  This  is  John's  first 
fleeting  glimpse  of  the  New  Jerusalem, — ^he  sees  the 
Church,  defending  the  good  that  is  attained  and  con- 
structing the  better.  And  it  is  his  last  sight  of  the 
Church.  Henceforth,  there  rises  before  him  the  ma- 
jestic conception  of  a  society  that  shall  include  all  of 
us.  The  witnessing  Church  was  to  him  only  the  seed 
of  the  perfect  State.  Gog  and  Magog — you  ask — 
what  were  they?  Your  question  is  the  answer.  The 
whole  point  of  those  ancient  battle-cries  is  that  they 
had  wholly  lost  their  meaning. 

Many  years  before — to  repeat  a  historical  parallel — 
John  had  been  among  those  who  would  have  called 
down  fire  from  heaven  on  an  unbelieving  Samaritan 
village.  It  was  Elijah's  remedy  for  the  unregenerate. 
The  punishment  which  Christ  inflicted  was  just  His 


THE  MILLENNIUM  AND  THE  THRONE    229 

absence, — He  walked  away — withdrew  Himself  as  His 
disciples  withdrew  themselves  from  Babylon,  ere  it 
fell — ^but  here  was  a  new  situation — not  Samaria  re- 
jecting Christ  for  Samaria,  but  Samaria  trying  to  des- 
troy Christ  in  Jerusalem.  And,  therefore,  fire  did 
now  come  down  from  the  God  of  Heaven  to  destroy  or 
devour  those  armies,  who,  thus  deceived,  would  have 
attacked  the  realized  achievements  in  Society  of  the 
Redeemer.  The  Devil  is  now  sent  no  longer  to  the 
bottomless  pit  of  human  passion  from  which  he  had 
just  escaped ;  that  was  only  his  Elba.  For  the  Devil, 
as  for  the  Beast  and  the  False  Prophet,  the  final  doom 
— the  St.  Helena — was  a  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone, 
the  Vesuvius  of  the  Apocalypse,  which  consumes  with- 
out possibility  of  restoration.  The  wrath  of  God 
against  wrong  and  the  wrath  of  man  against  wrong  are 
together  enough  to  drive  wrong  into  the  abyss. 

The  Great  White  Throne. 

When  John  first  saw  the  Throne  of  God,  it  was  as  a 
sunrise,  flecked  with  crimson,  as  of  a  sardius,  and  in 
the  midst  was  the  Lamb,  as  it  had  been  slain,  showing 
us  clearly  that  God  is  Love.  He  now  sees  this  same 
Throne,  not  as  an  Altar  of  Atonement,  but  great  and 
white,- — the  judgment  seat  of  Him  Who,  while  He  is 
Love,  must  be  therefore  also  Truth  and  also  Righteous- 
ness. It  is  not  a  new  or  different  Throne,  but  the  same, 
only  men  have  become,  as  it  were,  colour  blind,  unable 
to  see  in  the  heavens  the  Friend  Who  died  for  them. 
Having  refused  the  Christ  of  Calvary,  they  now  would 
flee  from  the  Lord  of  Sinai,  so  declining  repentance. 
But  there  is  that  in  Conscience  which  cannot  be 
crushed.  Sooner  or  later,  whether  we  wish  it  or  not, 
we  are  brought  face  to  face  with  our  works. 


230  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

No  longer  does  John  see  the  Four  Beasts.  In  the 
ultimate  reckoning,  even  Science  is  superseded  and 
men  must  deal  direct  with  Him  Who  sits  on  the 
Throne — with  God  Himself.  There  are  no  Four  and 
Twenty  Elders  to  act  as  mediators.  The  intercession 
of  saints,  even  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  whom  John  had 
tended,  is  set  aside.  Earth  and  heaven  flee  away — 
our  environment  is  no  plea,  be  it  happy  or  the  reverse ; 
it  is  what  we  are  and  what  we  have  done  that  alone 
matter.  For  circumstances  and  excuses,  there  is  no 
place  found.  Small  and  great,  the  dead  stand  before 
God — the  rich  cannot  plead  their  wealth  and  the  poor 
cannot  plead  their  poverty.  All  of  us  have  come  short 
of  the  glory  of  God  and  there  is  no  difference.  Even 
the  sea  gave  up  her  dead — not  only  those  who  phys- 
ically were  drowned  therein,  for  the  sea  was  to  John 
a  symbol  of  the  undiscovered  and  restless  heathendom 
beyond  his  reach.  For  all  of  us,  in  whatever  continent 
and  climate  we  beat  out  our  little  lives,  there  is  one 
destiny,  which  destiny  is  God.  Death — meaning  the 
grave — yielded  a  tribute  of  souls,  and  you  did  not  es- 
cape by  denying  immortality.  So  did  Hell  or  Hades 
send  contingents — whatever  might  be  imagined  of 
Nirvana  or  Purgatory  or  any  other  intermediate  state 
of  the  departed  had  to  give  up  in  the  end  to  God. 

There,  before  His  Great  White  Throne,  thus  stand 
the  ranks  of  mankind, — the  proudest  monarch  and  the 
humblest  slave — the  most  learned  of  philosophers  and 
the  aboriginal  Patagonian  who  can  scarce  utter  a  sen- 
tence— the  clear-headed  statesman  of  politics  and  com- 
merce, and  the  poor  lunatic  who  sees  all  things  in  a 
broken  glass, — young  and  old — the  veteran  of  a  hun- 
dred battles  and  the  babe  at  the  breast.  It  is  no  longer 
a  matter  of  systems  or  wars  or  revolutions.     All  these 


THE  MILLENNIUM  AND  THE  THRONE    231 

things  are  over.     And  there  remains  what  we  least 
like  to  acknowledge — our  personal  responsibility. 

The  Books  Opened. 

The  hooks  were  opened — ^many  books — great  works 
of  literature  and  music  and  science  and  art — whatever 
man  has  dreamed  and  argued  and  discovered,  but 
these,  one  by  one,  were  laid  aside,  and  another  hook 
was  opened,  the  hook  of  life.  As  Jesus  came  to  give  us 
life  more  abundantly,  so  was  life  made  the  test  of  liv- 
ing— ^what  joy  we  have  in  life,  what  love,  what  peace, 
what  goodness.  In  that  book  are  names  written  in  the 
alphabet  of  deeds.  We  show  our  faith  by  our  works. 
And  so  are  we  judged.  Have  we  visited  the  sick,  fed 
the  hungry,  clothed  the  naked  ?  Inasmuch  as  ye  have 
done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  little  ones, 
ye  have  done  it  unto  me — and  you  are  found  in  the 
hook  of  life.  No  patience  equals  this  search  of  God 
for  one  action  that  would  link  us  with  His  kindly  pur- 
pose. And  if  there  be  no  such  record,  what  wonder  if 
the  soul  is  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire?  Even  the  worst 
of  us  is  noble  enough  for  remorse. 

So  culminates  whatever  men  have  meant  by  death 
and  hell.  They  also  are  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire. 
With  the  fierce  burning  up  of  sin  and  waste,  as  of  rub- 
bish, goes  that  sense  of  punishment,  which  is  part  of 
our  wicked  failure.  As  the  body  first  died  and  was 
dissolved,  so  is  there  a  second  death,  of  evil  and  all 
that  evil  means.  And  Christ  thus  becomes,  not  merely 
a  commanding  political  influence,  as  Faithful  and 
True,  riding  the  white  horse  and  ruling  with  a  rod  of 
iron,  but  All  in  All,  the  only  influence  left  in  the  world, 
whether  here  or  in  the  illimitable  hereafter. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 
THE  TURN  OF  THE  ROAD 


IlyOOKED,  and  behold,  a  whirlwind  came  out  of  the 
north,  a  great  cloud,  and  a  fire  infolding  itself,  and  a 
brightness  was  about  it,  and  out  of  the  midst  thereof  as 
the  colour  of  amber,  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire. 

The  four  living  creatures  .  .  .  had  the  likeness  of 
a  man  .  .  .  (with)  four  wings,  and  their  feet  were 
straight  feet  .  .  .  (which)  sparkled  like  the  colour  of 
burnished  brass. 

Their  appearance  was  like  burning  coals  of  fire,  and 
like  the  appearance  of  lamps  .  .  .  and  the  fire  was 
bright,  and  out  of  the  fire  went  forth  lightning. 

I  heard  the  noise  of  their  wings,  like  the  noise  of  great 
waters,  as  the  voice  of  the  Almighty,  the  voice  of  speech, 
as  the  noise  of  an  host;  when  they  stood,  they  let  down 
their  wings. 

Their  work  was  as  it  were  a  wheel  in  the  middle  of  a 
wheel.  When  the  living  creatures  went,  the  wheels  went 
by  them;  and  when  the  living  creatures  were  lifted  up 
from  the  earth,  the  wheels  were  lifted  up. 

Whither  the  spirit  was  to  go,  they  went. 

—From  EzEKiEi,.    Chap.  i. 


XXVI 

THE  TURN  OF  THE  ROAD 

WE  have  now  climbed,  with  difficulty  and  labour 
hard,  to  the  shoulder  of  that  great  mountain  of 
human  sin  and  folly  which  has  hidden  from  our  eyes 
as  yet  the  glorious  skylines  of  the  City  of  God.  And 
ere  we  turn  the  corner  of  our  upward  road,  I  invite  you 
to  rest  a  while  and  consider  what  already  in  our  jour- 
ney together  we  have  achieved.  Our  company  included 
at  the  outset  a  journalist  of  brilliant  attainments,  who 
would  not  read  the  Revelation  of  St.  John  the  Divine 
and  hinted  that  those  who  do  read  it  might  spend  their 
time  more  wisely.  If  he  be  still  amongst  us  pilgrims, 
I  would  ask  him  whether,  in  vision,  there  really  is  a 
waste  of  energy.  Is  it  not  better,  after  all,  to  see 
clearly  where  you  are  going?  How  could  one  have 
spent  one's  leisure  to  better  advantage  than  by  this  en- 
joyment of  the  Apocalypse  ?  One  has  now,  what  one 
lacked  before,  a  clue  to  the  riddles  of  history — a  philos- 
ophy of  events,  otherwise  perplexing  and  distressful. 

If  one  had  only  found  in  the  Apocalypse  a  forecast, 
here  and  there,  of  the  life  we  are  now  living,  there 
would  have  been,  perhaps,  no  sense  of  wonder,  but  the 
picture  is  complete.  Even  the  details  are  filled  in. 
And  therefore  I,  for  one,  arrive  at  the  fact  of  proph- 
ecy, of  a  God  Who  foresees  and  Who,  thus  foreseeing, 

235 


236  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

shares  with  us,  when  we  reverence  Him,  His  intimate 
counsels.  From  this  I  conclude  that,  at  a  given  mo- 
ment. He  is  not  far  from  any  one  of  us,  that  He  knows 
and  cares  and  helps. 

You  ask  me  to  explain  how  it  was  that  a  man,  calling 
himself  John,  came  to  put  these  things  down  on  paper. 
I  can  imagine  some  scholar,  well  versed  in  the  affairs 
of  the  Roman  Empire,  taking  the  Vision  and  showing 
how  every  symbol  applied  to  events  in  John's  own  day. 
Let  it  be  so — what  then  ?  Is  it  any  the  less  marvellous 
that  a  Vision,  transient  in  origin,  should  be  eternal  in 
its  truth  ?  Our  Lord  made  clay  and  anointed  a  man's 
eyes  who  then  was  able  to  see  the  life  he  was  living. 
Did  the  use  of  common  clay  destroy  the  miracle? 
John  also  was  of  that  same  common  clay,  but  Our 
Lord  took  him  and  used  him  as  sight  to  us  who  had 
been  blind.  Really,  it  does  not  matter  very  much  to 
me  whether  you  call  it  genius  or  inspiration,  for  why 
should  genius  be  neglected,  merely  because  some  mil- 
lions of  people,  as  sane  as  their  critics,  have  found  it 
also  "  inspired  "  ? 

Ezekiel — the  Pioneer. 

In  whatever  we  mean  by  prophecy,  as  an  art  or  as  a 
science  or  as  a  mystery,  John  of  Patmos  had  been  ob- 
viously a  lifelong  student,  and  of  Ezekiel  especially 
was  he  a  disciple.  Ezekiel  was  the  Jules  Verne  of  the 
Old  Testament,  with  a  deeper  purpose  within  him  than 
mere  entertainment,  and  it  is  in  his  first  chapter,  writ- 
ten by  the  River  Chebar,  hundreds  of  years  before 
Christ,  that  you  find,  in  actual  and  demonstrable  fact, 
the  earliest  description  of  an  aeroplane.  The  only 
machinery  that  he  had  seen  was  of  the  simplest — a 
water-wheel,  a  chariot-wheel,  a  potter's-wheel,  a  mill- 


THE  TUEN  OF  THE  ROAD  237 

stone,  and  a  pulley  with  ropes  for  lifting  and  hauling 
weights.  Yet  arguing  from  these  elementary  begin- 
nings, he  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  in  the  centuries 
to  come  the  active  and  subtle  brainof  man  would  evolve 
therefrom  an  infinitely  complicated  machinery,  of 
wheels  within  wheels,  and  that  an  inevitable  outcome  of 
such  progress  would  be  a  successful  flight  through  the 
air,  as  a  chariot  speeds  along  the  road, — a  flight  in 
which  the  generating  power  would  be  flame,  flashing 
and  sparking  like  lightning,  but  the  guidance  of  which 
would  continue  to  be  the  face  of  a  man  within  the 
wheels,  and  the  spirit  of  man  ever  determining  the 
aeroplane's  direction.  Read  it  for  yourself  and  you 
will  find  that  indisputably  it  is  so. 

Evolution  of  War. 

Here  then  was  a  Hebrew  prophet  who  by  "  looking  " 
into  life  could  discern  two  features  of  our  modern 
civilization,  namely,  an  inconceivably  wonderful  de- 
velopment of  mechanical  ingenuity  and,  with  it,  the 
continued  supremacy  over  all  mechanism  of  the  human 
will ;  so  that  you  have  on  the  one  hand  the  aeroplane, 
designed  according  to  immutable  laws  of  science,  and 
on  the  other  hand  the  airman,  in  his  daredevilry,  loop- 
ing the  loop.  All  that,  I  say,  you  will  find  in  the  first 
chapter  of  the  neglected  prophet  Ezekiel. 

We  who  take  short  views  of  life  may  despise  these 
far  imaginings.  But  not  so  John  of  Patmos.  To  him, 
the  future  of  mankind  presented  a  fascinating  and 
often  a  terrible  vista.  As  Ezekiel  argued  from  the 
potter's  wheel  to  the  aeroplane,  so  John  argued  from 
the  wars  that  he  knew  of  to  the  wars  that  certainly 
must  be.  Seeing  the  eruption  of  a  volcano,  he  rea- 
soned with  a  logic  which  time  has  justified  that  man 


238  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

would  take  those  same  sulphurous  elements,  would  en- 
close them  in  metal  as  volcanoes  are  restrained  by  the 
rocks,  and  would  use  the  explosion  thereof  as  a 
weapon,  as  the  explosion  of  Vesuvius  was  used  by 
Destiny  to  overwhelm  Pompeii.  From  that,  he  ar- 
rived inevitably  at  trench  warfare,  where  armies  would 
dig  themselves  into  the  ground  to  escape  from  injury, 
at  bursting  shells,  falling  like  stars,  and  by  inference  at 
the  entire  panorama  of  modem  battles. 

One  example  of  his  insight  may  be  recalled — I  refer 
to  the  third  horse  of  the  Apocalypse.  I  can  under- 
stand a  man  writing  of  war  as  a  succession  of  tram- 
pling horses.  I  see  the  sword  as  a  weapon  and  the 
bow  and  arrows  and  the  subsequent  disease  and  death, 
which  came  with  the  fourth  horse.  But  the  third  horse, 
where  the  rider  carried,  of  all  things,  a  pair  of  scales, 
is  incredible,  either  in  the  madness  of  the  idea  or  in  the 
supreme  wisdom  of  it.  What  are-you  to  say  of  a  poet 
and  visionary  who  had  what  we  call  the  wit  to  per- 
ceive that  world-wide  conflict  between  peoples  would 
mean  the  rationing  of  food? 

The  Great  Consummation. 

I  need  not  recapitulate  the  many  other  precise  and 
exquisitely  indicated  descriptions  of  modern  life  of 
which,  in  the  preceding  pages,  I  have  pointed  out  the 
accuracy.  For  I  wish  to  proceed  at  once  to  the  further 
question  why,  if  these  things  are  really  so,  such  genius 
as  John's  should  have  been  harnessed  to  a  task,  so  fan- 
tastic as  composing  this  epic  upon  a  history  that  was 
still  to  come.  Were  there  no  flowers  at  his  feet,  no 
birds  at  the  window  of  his  cell,  no  children  playing  by 
the  path  which  he  trod,  that  he  must  needs  indulge  his 
poetic  muse  in  a  kind  of  bewildering  legerdemain,  in- 


THE  TUKN  OF  THE  EOAD  239 

sane  if  meaningless  and  only  curious  if  correct?  As- 
sume that  all  I  say  is  right,  then,  asks  my  critical  friend, 
cui  bono?  Who  is  the  better  or  happier  or  wiser  for  all 
this  abstruse  imagery?  The  answer  is  that  John  was 
out  to  prove  a  certain  stupendous  proposition.  In  de- 
fense and  assertion  of  that  proposition,  he  was  bound 
by  the  necessities  of  the  case  to  call  history  as  a  wit- 
ness,— history  not  past  alone,  but  the  history  that  was 
to  be.  He  was  compelled,  therefore,  to  elaborate  that 
history  in  terms  which,  however  puzzling  for  the  mo- 
ment, would  be  in  the  times  to  come  self-evidently  true. 
Assume  then  that  the  proposition  to  be  demonstrated 
was  worth  while,  it  follows  that  the  method,  even  if 
strange,  was  justified,  if,  that  is,  it  proved  to  be  effect- 
ive. Everything  of  this  argument  depends,  then,  on 
the  proposition.     What  was  it  ? 

The  Coming  of  Christ. 

The  thesis  was  this — that  at  some  moment  in  the 
future  annals  of  our  race,  the  Christ  of  Calvary  would 
return — in  quick  sudden  majesty — to  reign  over  men 
and  women.  Over  and  over  again,  this  idea — Behold, 
I  come  quickly — is  repeated  and,  whatever  we  may 
think  of  it,  we  cannot  ignore  for  one  moment  its  im- 
portance, whether  as  reasonable  faith  or  as  mystical 
delusion.  The  mere  difference  that  Christ  has  made  to 
our  world  by  coming  amongst  us  for  the  first  time, 
would  be  proof  sufficient  of  what  difference  He  would 
make  if  He  were  to  return.  If  we  could  imagine  what 
this  world,  as  it  now  is,  would  be  like  on  any  single  day 
that  all  men  allowed  Our  Lord  to  rule  their  wills,  then, 
we  might  go  on  to  work  out  the  results  of  His  rule  over 
the  hearts  of  men  if  continued  for  a  year,  ten  years,  a 
thousand  years.    Abuses  would  be  swept  away.     Edu- 


240  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

cation  in  Christ  would  eliminate  hatreds  and  prejudices 
and  vices.  Nations  would  play  together,  converted  as 
little  children,  and  bloodshed  would  be  unthinkable. 

John  held  that  there  could  be  no  such  new  Jerusalem 
except  as  the  Bride  of  Christ.  Only  by  worshipping 
the  Lamb  on  the  mount  may  society  be  thus  regener- 
ated on  the  basis  of  happiness.  John  shows  that  war 
and  revolution  and  commerce  and  all  the  resources  of 
science  and  statesmanship  fail  utterly  to  bring  security 
to  men's  wealth  and  peace  to  men's  souls.  Where 
there  is  the  mark  of  the  beast  instead  of  the  mark  of 
the  Lamb,  society  must  be  ever  in  peril.  We  are  told 
how,  without  Christ,  dynasties  and  republics  and  mili- 
tary despotisms  and  industrial  corporations  success- 
ively collapse  by  their  own  weight,  each  involving  in 
its  downfall  a  more  terrible  disaster  to  mankind  than 
the  one  that  went  before.  Great  movements,  like  that 
for  the  emancipation  of  motherhood,  culminate  in  a 
straight  battle  between  those  who  are  for  and  those 
who  are  against  Christ.  Like  the  Olive  Trees, 
Churches  fall  and  lie  dormant,  except  as  they  rise  with 
Christ  from  the  dead.  And  from  this  reasoning,  we 
are  led  to  the  conclusion,  not  only  that  Christ  may 
come  again  amongst  us,  but  that,  if  our  homes  and  our 
happiness  are  to  be  preserved  against  the  hideous  re- 
sources of  devilry^  if  we  are  to  defy  chemistry  and 
pathology,  consecrated  to  hatred,  if  poison  and  disease 
germs  are  to  be  suppressed  instead  of  being  propagated, 
if  governments  are  to  be  the  enemy  instead  of  the  arch- 
perpetrators  of  crime,  then,  Christ  must  come.  Be- 
tween Him  Who  is  the  Way,  the  Truth  and  the  Life — 
between  Him  and  universal,  organized  death,  there  is 
no  longer  a  middle  ground.  We  must  have  either  the 
devil's  reign  of  murder  or  Christ's  millennium. 


THE  TUKN  OF  THE  KOAD  241 

A  Stupendous  Proposition. 

This  was  the  stupendous  proposition  which  John  of 
Patmos  set  out  to  prove.  Reahzing  as  he  did — and  as 
we  are  beginning  to  realize— that  the  very  continuance 
of  the  human  race  depends  on  disarming  the  forces  of 
evil  and  enthroning  the  Author  of  Good,  he  wrote  with 
a  certain  apparent  intolerance  of  those  who  would  add 
unto  his  sayings  their  own  ideas  or,  according  to  their 
own  whims,  detract  from  those  sayings.  This  was  no 
egotism  of  the  literary  artist,  no  dictation  of  the  theo- 
logical scribe.  It  was  the  quick  command  of  a  man 
who  detects  the  spark  and  dreads  the  prairie  fire. 
There  is  not  a  Congress,  a  Cabinet,  an  Embassy,  a 
Parliament,  not  a  department  of  state,  where  John's 
vision  would  not  be  a  safeguard  against  the  overshad- 
owing peril  of  a  future,  unguided  by  the  Christ. 

John  was  one  who  had  himself  seen  the  Christ  come 
a  first  time.  In  his  Gospel,  he  tells  how  this  Man,  ap- 
parently so  humble  in  His  origin  and  so  simple  in  His 
habits  and  message,  was  gradually  revealed  as  divine, 
not  all  at  once,  but  by  numberless  hints — the  way  He 
talked  to  people  quite  as  much  as  the  way  He  healed 
them — until  it  was  impossible  for  a  doubter  like 
Thomas  or  the  discouraged  disciples  fishing  fruitlessly 
in  the  cold  gray  dawn  to  see  this  Christ  without  know- 
ing Him  to  be  Lord  and  God.  This  later  Vision  of 
John's  reveals  to  us  similarly,  stage  by  stage,  the  reve- 
lation of  the  Christ  in  the  faces  of  our  fellow-men.  It 
might  seem  as  if  His  glorious  lineaments  were  fading 
from  the  horizon  of  the  Churches,  leaving  on  all  the 
world  the  mark  of  the  beast.  But  if  you  seek  out 
where  people  are  happy,  there  you  find  the  mark  of  the 
Christ,  stamped  on  human  countenances  ever  more 
plainly,  until,  as  leaven,  the  kingdom  or  rule  of  happi- 


242  THE  VISIOK  WE  FORGET 

ness  permeates  the  entire  body  politic,  and  there  de- 
scends on  our  institutions,  so  perfected,  the  glory  of  the 
City  of  God. 

Daniel's  Image. 

John  was  a  prophet,  the  last  of  an  illustrious  line  of 
prophets.  He  had  read  of  Daniel's  image,  with  the 
head  of  gold,  representing  Babylon,  and  the  arms  of 
silver,  that  is  Persia,  and  the  thighs  of  brass,  meaning 
Greece,  and  the  legs  of  iron,  which  was  Rome, — stand- 
ing on  feet  of  iron  and  clay,  a  picture  of  the  mingled 
strength  and  weakness  of  states  since  the  Roman  Em- 
pire fell.  He  therefore  expected  that  one  day  there 
would  descend  on  our  later  civilization  what  Daniel 
called  the  stone,  cut  out  without  hands,  which  would 
break  all  the  metals  of  all  the  kingdoms  into  one  chaos 
in  order  that  out  of  the  chaos  might  arise  a  kingdom 
that  should  never  be  moved.  On  this  theme,  so  clearly 
stated  to  Nebuchadnezzar,  John  developed  his  more 
elaborate  conception.  What  Daniel  had  seen  dimly  as 
a  stone,  unhewn  because  rejected  of  the  builders, — the 
stone  that  would  not  fit  any  of  our  selfish  edifices — 
this,  John  found  to  be  the  Christ,  returning  as  King 
with  His  retinue,  to  reign  over  heaven  and  earth. 

He  realized — as  we  have  seen  in  our  interpretation 
— that  the  coming  of  the  Saviour  would  be  prepared 
by  a  world-wide  distribution  of  the  Scriptures,  by  mis- 
sionaries flying  like  angels  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  by 
a  revival  of  the  Churches  that  would  astonish  and 
alarm  the  spectators  thereof,  by  an  emergence  of  politi- 
cal power  in  the  East,  and  by  a  gradual  building,  at 
first  most  imperfect,  of  the  City  of  God  upon  earth. 
John  also  saw  that  for  a  period  the  returning  Christ 
would  be  expressed  in  terms  of  power,  that  many 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  ROAD  243 

would  be  forced  to  do  His  will,  not  physically  but  by 
His  public  opinion, — the  word  of  His  mouth.  He  also 
perceived  that  after  the  period  was  over,  this  discipline 
would  break  down,  until  men's  hearts  were  won  for 
Christ,  until  they  should  do  His  will,  not  because  they 
have  to  do  it,  but  because  they  like  it.  And  thus  John 
arrives  at  his  grand  conclusion,  which  is  that  no  society 
can  be  perfectly  contented,  whether  in  heaven  or  on 
earth,  unless  every  one  within  it  is  wholly  devoted  to 
the  Person  and  obedience  of  the  Lamb  of  God. 

The  Triumph  of  the  Good. 

At  this  final  result,  he  arrives  by  tracing  the  gradual 
progress  of  the  good  in  Christ  and  His  disciples.  But 
with  the  progress  of  good,  he  recognizes  that  there  is 
also  a  progress  of  evil,  and  this  also  he  describes.  At 
first,  it  seems  as  if  evil  were  stronger  than  any  other 
force  acting  upon  the  affairs  of  men.  The  devil  es- 
capes from  hell  and  there  is  no  power  on  earth  to  put 
him  back  again.  But  it  is  to  be  noted  that  evil,  in  the 
very  heydey  of  its  triumph,  only  ruined  one-third  of 
society, — its  victory  was  partial — whereas  the  good  in 
Christ  is  to  be  ultimately  universal.  There  were  al- 
ways people  who  refused  to  surrender  to  evil.  The 
time  will  come  when  every  knee  will  bow  to  Our  Lord 
of  Good.  Evil  was  thus  never  so  strong  as  He  ever 
has  been,  and  in  the  darkest  days  we  have  in  Him  the 
biggest  battalions  on  our  side.  The  defeat  of  evil  is 
seen  in  the  martyrdom  of  those  who  resisted  unto 
death,  in  the  song  which  succeeded  to  their  complaints 
and  in  the  enrollment  of  the  redeemed  for  worship  and 
service.  Generations  arise  which  are  strong  enough  to 
suppress  the  evil,  and  the  devil  is  put  back  into  hell. 
Where  the  multitude  had  loved  the  evil  and  only  the 


244  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

individual  had  loved  the  good,  it  began  to  be  the  other 
way.  It  was  the  multitude  that  thronged  the  streets 
of  the  City  of  God  and  it  was  the  individual  who  loved 
his  lies  and  his  indulgences  and  was  thus  self-excluded 
from  happiness. 

Look  back  over  the  long  valley  that  we  have  together 
traversed  and  you  will  see  that  this  is,  broadly,  the 
progress  that  we  have  made.  We  now  stand,  as  I  have 
said,  on  the  shoulder  of  the  Hill  Difficulty.  A  step  or 
two  onwards,  and  we  shall  see  before  us,  no  longer  the 
perplexities  of  the  past,  but  the  noble  outlines  of  the 
New  Jerusalem,  the  holy  city  of  God.  As  seven  days 
were  needed  to  complete  the  old  creation,  with  the  soul 
of  man  within  it,  so  seven  seals,  seven  trumpets  and 
seven  vials,  working  together  through  evil  for  good, 
changed  creation  into  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 
THE  NEW  JERUSALEM 


AND  I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth:  for  the 
first  heaven  and  the  first  earth  were  passed  away; 
and  there  was  no  more  sea. 

And  I  John  saw  the  holy  city,  new  Jerusalem,  coming 
down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned 
for  her  husband. 

And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  heaven,  saying,  Behold, 
the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  he  will  dwell  with 
them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and  God  himself  shall 
be  with  them,  and  he  their  God. 

And  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes ;  and 
there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither  sorrow,  nor  crying, 
neither  shall  there  be  any  more  pain :  for  the  former  things 
are  passed  away. 

And  he  that  sat  upon  the  throne  said,  Behold,  I  make  all 
things  new.  And  he  said  unto  me,  Write ;  for  these  words 
are  true  and  faithful. 

And  he  said  unto  me,  It  is  done.  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega, 
the  beginning  and  the  end.  I  will  give  unto  him  that  is 
athirst  of  the  fountain  of  the  water  of  life  freely. 

He  that  overcometh  shall  inherit  all  things;  and  I  will 
be  his  God,  and  he  shall  be  my  son. 

But  the  fearful,  and  unbelieving,  and  the  abominable, 
and  murderers,  and  whoremongers,  and  sorcerers,  and 
idolaters,  and  all  liars,  shall  have  their  part  in  the  lake 
which  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone ;  which  is  the  second 
death. 

— ReveI/ATion  21 : 1-8. 


XXVII 
THE  NEW  JERUSALEM 

IT  is  not  by  fine  writing  that  any  one  can  embellish 
the  utter  truth  and  beauty  of  God's  perfect  city. 
As  a  boy,  in  the  long  ago,  John  had  kept  the  feasts  at 
Jerusalem  and  with  other  pilgrims  had  sung  the  songs 
of  Zion,  which  are  still  among  our  Psalms,  so  extolling 
her  gates  and  walls,  her  bulwarks  and  her  palaces.  As 
kinsman  of  the  High  Priest,  he  was  the  apostle  most 
familiar  with  the  Temple,  and  if  we  read  the  Fourth 
Gospel,  we  find  that  what  gripped  John's  memory  was 
not  so  much  the  Christ  of  Galilee,  of  humdrum  daily 
life,  as  the  Christ  of  Zion,  the  divine  Statesman,  the 
Royal  Christ,  born  to  be  King.  With  Jerusalem  swept 
away  by  the  Romans  and  with  the  immemorial  Pass- 
over interrupted  except  upon  the  heretical  Gerizim 
where  it  was  an  insult,  all  the  landmarks  of  John's 
eager  patriotism  had  vanished  and  he  had  to  face  the 
disillusionment  that  to-day  has  overtaken  millions  of 
loyal  folk,  the  wide  world  over.  What  the  German 
feels  over  the  ruin  of  the  Fatherland,  the  bitterness  of 
Vienna  at  finding  herself  a  head  without  a  body,  the 
uneasiness  of  the  American  who  discovers  that  even 
his  country  is  trodden  under  foot  by  immigrants  who 
know  little  of  the  great  traditions,  the  humbling  of 
Britain  over  an  Empire  slowly  changing  into  an  alli- 
ance, the  end  of  all  things  hitherto  recognized  as  au- 
thoritative in  Russia, — all  this  illustrates  John's  sor- 
row over  the  old  Jerusalem  that  had  meant  for  him  so 
much.     And  for  us  to-day,  the  value  of  his  experience 

247 


248  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

lies  just  in  this — that  when  the  established  order  of 
society  was  broken  up  and  institutions  reduced  to  chaos, 
he  was  not  left  comfortless.  In  Christ,  he  found  more 
than  Jerusalem  had  ever  been  to  him.  To  be  a  Jew  or 
a  German  or  an  Englishman  or  an  American  or  a  Rus- 
sian might  involve  him  in  disappointment  and  anxiety, 
but  to  be  Christ's  man  meant  hope  and  vision — the 
vision  of  a  new  and  better  society,  arising  from  the 
eternal  foundations  of  love  and  justice,  around  the 
Person  of  God  and  the  Lamb. 

Doubtless  the  Jerusalem  of  the  Herods  and  of  Pon- 
tius Pilate,  like  our  cities,  fell  far  below  a  civic  ideal. 
But  John  was  a  man,  converted — born  again,  as  he  put 
it,  like  a  little  child, — and  to  him,  as  to  a  child  playing 
on  the  floor  with  bricks,  there  was  on  Mount  Zion  in- 
finitely more  than  mere  stones  and  mortar.  As  the 
child  with  his  toys  dreams  of  railroads  and  seaports 
and  castles,  so  John  thought  of  the  Christ-City  where 
all  should  be  holy,  happy  and  healthy.  Take  away  the 
bricks — let  the  child  lie  ill  in  his  cot — and  from  the 
flickering  shadows  of  the  fire  on  his  counterpane,  he 
will  still  build  palaces  of  wealth  and  glory.  For  the 
aged  John  of  Patmos  it  was  very  near  bedtime,  but  ere 
he  drew  the  blanket  around  him  and  went  to  sleep,  he 
also,  like  a  little  child,  forgot  the  pain,  the  loneliness, 
the  defeat,  and  had  his  fancy  of  the  good  that  was  to 
be. 

Heaven  and  Earth. 

It  is  always  when  the  old  is  destroyed  that  God*s 
poets  foresee  the  new.  Isaiah  was  one  who  watched 
the  ruin  of  his  Jerusalem  and  so  talked,  centuries  before 
John,  of  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth.  The  former 
things,  which  had  meant  so  much  to  him,  would  not 


THE  NEW  JEKUSALEM  249 

be  remembered,  said  he,  nor  come  to  mind.  The  first 
heaven  and  the  first  earth,  echoes  John,  have  passed 
away — clean  out  of  sight.  In  God,  these  men  could 
face  change.  If  Jerusalem  became  for  them  a  holy 
city,  it  was  because  it  was  a  city,  constantly  burnt  and 
constantly  built.  Old  dwellings  are  picturesque  in  de- 
cay, but  they  harbour  disease.  Cathedral  towns  are 
notoriously  corrupt.  I  hope  I  have  a  loyal  adherence 
to  the  British  Empire  to  which  I  belong,  but  greater 
than  any  Empire,  any  Republic,  is  the  universal  rule 
of  the  King  of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords.  Monarchies 
and  commerce  and  citizenship  and  leagues  have  a  value 
while  they  last  but  no  dead  hand,  whether  of  law  or 
art  or  politics  or  science  or  custom,  can  hold  back  the 
Christ.  As  He  advances,  all  that  is  not  precisely  of 
Him  must  recede.  Terrible  is  the  destruction  of  old 
Jerusalem — a  horror  indeed  to  be  dreaded.  But  He 
Who  died  to  save  Jerusalem  would  not  have  restored 
it.  It  was  not  He  Who  inspired  the  Crusades  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  What  He  said  was — Go  ye  into  all  the 
world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature. 

Every  day  of  his  life,  John  had  prayed  that  the  will 
of  Our  Father  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven. 
In  Christ,  he  saw  life,  not  as  a  broken  mirror,  but 
whole — the  here  and  now  linked  with  the  hereafter; 
ideal  expressed  in  the  actual ;  thought  wedded  to  deed ; 
happiness  amid  circumstances.  At  few  points  in  the 
Vision  can  you  say  definitely  whether  life  is  present  or 
future — before  death  or  beyond  it.  All  is  equally  eter- 
nal. And  heaven  is  ever  put  first — the  unseen  before 
the  seen — the  spiritual  before  the  material.  Men  had 
attempted  happiness  the  other  way — to  build  their 
Tower  of  Babel  up  to  heaven,  to  found  their  fortunes 
on  wealth  and  achievement.     I  write  for  the  most  of 


250  THE  YISIOK  WE  FORGET 

us  who  in  this  sense  have  failed.  Even  we — ^the  poor 
and  the  unknown — may  dwell  in  the  Holy  City  that  is 
not  reared  upwards  to  God,  but  comes  to  us,  down, — 
right  down  to  our  level, — down  from  God- — with  many 
mansions  or  tenements  or  cottages  prepared,  because 
Christ  went  there  first, — ^mansions  which  include  a 
place  for  you.  So  had  John  written  in  his  Gospel.  So 
was  the  Word  fulfilled  in  his  experience. 

He  that  Overcometh. 

So  simple  and  so  radiant  are  the  city's  outlines,  so 
glorious  her  battlements  and  golden  streets,  that  one 
asks  why  for  many  weary  years  the  Vision  Splendid  is 
hidden  from  our  eyes.  The  poet  of  the  Apocalypse 
was  William  Blake  who  tells  of  the  "  mental  strife  " 
whereby  alone  we  can  comprehend  God's  perfect  so- 
ciety. If  John  was  able  at  last  to  see  the  city  so  clearly 
it  was  because  there  was  nothing  of  human  sin  and 
guilt  and  pain  that  he  had  not  faced  and,  in  the  Spirit 
by  which  he  wrote,  fathomed.  Kept  by  the  power  of 
God,  he  had  met  dragons  and  false  prophets  and  beasts 
and  had  emerged  unscathed.  He  that  overcometh — ^he 
could  say — shall  inherit  all  things.  England  has  her 
garden  cities.  The  zeal  that  built  them  was  kindled  in 
the  slums.  Not  in  the  artist,  as  such,  but  in  the  helper 
lies  to-day  the  hope  of  mankind,  and  the  surest  guide  to 
health  is  the  physician  who  has  seen  most  disease. 
The  angel  who  said  to  John,  Come  hither,  I  zvill  shew 
thee  the  bride,  the  Lamb's  wife,  was  by  an  astounding 
coincidence  one  of  the  seven  angels  which  had  the  seven 
vials  full  of  the  seven  last  plagues.  Not  in  avoiding 
judgment  has  mankind  ever  attained  unto  well  being, 
but  in  accepting  judgment — in  finding  mercy  with 
righteousness. 


THE  NEW  JEEUSALEM  251 

No  Temple  Therein. 

At  first,  one  can  discover  nothing  new  in  the  new 
Jerusalem.  Walls  and  gates  and  gold  and  trees  and 
rivers — you  would  see  all  these  in  ancient  Babylon. 
Nothing  is  said  of  tram-cars  and  telephones  and  sky- 
scrapers and  the  latest  improvements.  What  made  the 
city  "  new  "  was  evidently  something  other  than  these 
— something  unseen — in  the  air — some  spirit  of  neigh- 
bourhood that  men  breathed — a  Presence — an  organ- 
ized and  personal  care  by  each  for  all — Fatherhood 
working  through  Brotherhood — the  existing  materials 
put  at  last  to  their  appointed  use.  In  order  to  meet 
with  God,  people  needed  no  longer  to  go  on  special 
days  to  special  places — Church  or  Synagogue — for, 
says  John,  /  saw  no  Temple  therein,  for  the  Lord  God 
Almighty  and  the  Lamb  are  the  Temple  of  it.  At  last, 
the  day  had  dawned  when  neither  in  Jerusalem  nor  in 
Samaria  would  men  worship  the  Father,  but  they 
would  worship  Him  everywhere,  in  Spirit  and  in 
Truth.  Barriers  between  sects  and  races  were  broken 
down,  distinctions  between  Sabbath  and  week-day  ob- 
literated. In  Christ  Jesus,  at  last,  all  men  at  all  times 
became  one.  And  in  the  very  decline  of  a  Church  like 
Laodicea,  in  the  decay  of  ecclesiastical  institutions  and 
observances,  there  was  found  to  be  the  promise  of  the 
wider,  deeper  devotion  to  the  Christ  that  is  yet  to  be. 
If  sometimes  one  finds  less  of  Christ  in  the  pulpit,  one 
finds  more  of  Him,  dimly  seen  it  is  true,  in  the  movies. 

But  as  races  and  religions  intermingled,  no  one,  how- 
ever humble,  was  lost  in  the  mass.  To  each  It  is  said, 
1  will  he  his  God  and  he  shall  he  my  son.  Of  Christ 
Himself,  as  Son  of  God,  no  more  particular  and  affec- 
tionate thing  is  uttered.  There  is  indeed  the  God  of 
history  and  evolution — Alpha  and  Omega,  the  begins 


262  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

ning  and  the  end.  There  is  indeed  the  river  flowing- 
abundantly  for  everybody.  But  the  Omnipotent  and 
Eternal  tenderly  stoops  to  His  parched  child,  dips  a  cup 
that  the  child  can  hold  into  the  infinite  stream,  and 
says,  /  will  give  unto  him  that  is  athirst  of  the  zvater  of 
life  freely.  Organized  strength  cherishes  isolated 
weakness  and  God,  not  the  devil,  takes  the  hindmost. 
An  Imperial  Parliament  provides  the  old  age  pension, 
insures  the  sick,  cherishes  the  feeble-minded,  teaches 
the  infant. 

No  Death  and  No  Pain. 

Not,  however,  in  the  statistical  spirit.  Here,  in  the 
new  Jerusalem,  is  an  efficiency  illuminated  by  fellow 
feeling.  Centuries  ere  this,  Isaiah  had  said  that  if 
tears  are  to  be  wiped  from  our  eyes,  it  must  be  God 
Who  does  it.  To  Him,  even  our  sorrows  are  sacred 
and,  in  the  exquisite  simile  of  the  East,  He  puts  our 
tears  into  His  bottle.  In  the  new  Jerusalem,  there  is 
the  God  of  all  comfort.  Who  Himself  wept  over  the 
old  Jerusalem  and  can  wipe  all  tears,  therefore,  from 
our  faces.  The  old  sores,  personal  and  national,  will 
be  healed.  There  shall  be  no  more  death  and  pain. 
Paul  tells  us  that  the  last  enemy  to  be  overcome  is 
death,  and  it  is  true.  Only  in  the  fully  realized  presence 
of  Christ  does  death  become  resurrection,  as  at  Nain 
and  at  Bethany  where  He  raised  the  dead.  The  day  is 
surely  coming  when  tombs  and  graveyards  and  funereal 
monuments  will  be  as  obsolete  as  idols — when  mourn- 
ing garments  will  be  an  ill  memory — when  we  shall 
enter  into  His  glory  with  singing  as  did  the  early 
Christians.  And  so  also  with  pain.  As  the  use  of 
torture  is  discredited,  so  is  surgery  relieved  by  anaes- 
thetics.    Disease  is  prevented  where  disease  used  to  be 


THE  NEW  JERUSALEM  263 

cured.  The  leaves  of  the  tree  are  for  the  healing  of 
the  nations — a  perfect  picture  of  hospitals,  founded  by 
accrued  wealth.  Life  is  so  lived  as  to  bring  health. 
Fresh  air,  reasonable  hours  of  labour,  minds  immune 
from  worry,  games,  amusements  bring  vigorous  old 
age.  As  Isaiah  prophesied,  there  shall  be  no  more  an 
old  man  that  hath  not  filled  his  days.  Christ's  miracles 
of  healing  were  pointers  only.  Against  fevers  and 
cancers  and  leprosy,  there  is  now  waged  world-wide 
war. 

As  this  vision  broke  upon  John's  gaze,  he  was  silent 
with  wonder.  His  pen  lay  idle  in  his  hand.  He  could 
not  believe  his  eyes.  He  did  not  dare  to  commit  him- 
self to  ideals  so  daring.  But  God  commanded,  Write. 
Explain  the  thing — get  the  people  to  understand  it — 
make  it  clear  to  them,  this  social  and  personal  love  of 
God.  For  these  words  are  faithful  and  true,  being 
none  else  than  Christ  Himself — the  Word  of  God, 
Faithful  and  True — expressed  in  the  language  of  daily 
goodness.  Behold,  said  the  Eternal,  it  is  I  Who  make 
all  things  new,  and  without  Him  we  can  do  nothing. 

The  Bride  Adorned. 

No  mere  municipal  organism,  this  city  was  a 
romance — adorned  as  a  bride  for  her  husband.  All 
the  things  that  Christ  was  denied  on  earth,  were  there. 
For  Him,  homes  were  painted,  flowers  set  in  windows, 
gardens  cultivated.  As  Zechariah  had  foretold  boys 
and  girls  playing  in  the  streets  of  the  city,  without 
peril  to  mind  or  body,  so  in  parks  and  playgrounds 
would  it  be  fulfilled.  For  the  city  of  God,  no  orna- 
ment was  too  costly.  Even  the  foundations,  hidden 
underground,  were  garnished  zvith  all  manner  of 
precious  stones — a  reminiscence,  by  the  way,  of  Tobit 


254  THE  VISION  WE  FORGET 

in  the  Apocrypha.  For  it  is  not  the  advertised 
service  that  glorifies  society.  Graven  on  those  founda- 
tions were  names  of  the  twelve  apostles — the  mission- 
ary men — sent  unknown  to  life  and  death  and  ever  go- 
ing where  sent.  What  made  the  stones  so  precious 
was  their  mason's  mark  upon  them — not  the  archi- 
tecture, not  the  profits  but  the  labour.  Public 
libraries,  built  of  imperial  marble,  rivalled  the  palaces 
of  the  Caesars.  Schools  and  universities  were  the  home 
for  every  mind.  Here  was  a  living  and  zealous  democ- 
racy, achieved  in  Christ. 

Not,  however,  in  buildings  was  the  city  chiefly  splen- 
did, but  in  its  public  opinion.  It  was  holy.  The  glory 
of  it  was  not  itself  hut  of  God.  So  ended  the  Jingo- 
ism that  exalts  the  community  at  expense  of  mankind. 
And  instead  you  had  the  light,  clear  as  crystal.  Such 
courtesy — such  absolute  sincerity !  John's  first  glimpse 
of  God's  throne  had  been  as  a  jasper  stone,  clear  yet 
varied.  And  the  light  most  precious  in  the  city  of  God 
is  also  compared  with  jasper,  as  if  society,  looking  into 
the  Eternal,  had,  like  some  tranquil  lake,  reflected  the 
very  depths  of  the  sky  above.  As  John  regarded  this 
wondrous  illumination,  the  more  and  more  did  it  amaze 
him.  You  can  hear  him  "  thinking  aloud  "  over  the 
phenomenon.  ''  It  is  not,"  he  says,  "'  of  the  sun  and 
moon  " — being  somehow  independent  of  seasons  and 
circumstances — "nor  is  there  night" — for  ignorance 
and  vice  and  prejudice  have  vanished — nor  is  there  a 
candle  that  men  hum — it  is  no  artificial  creed  or  device 
for  attaining  happiness — it  must  he  the  glory  of  the 
Lord  that  lightens  this  city  and  the  Lamh  that  is  the 
light  therof.  At  last,  the  Redeemer  is  found  to  be  the 
Light  of  the  World,  following  Whom  none  walk  in 
darkness,  be  it  of  doubt  or  despair,  of  hatred  or  sin. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 
HOW  CHRIST  WOULD  GOVERN 


AND  there  came  unto  me  one  of  the  seven  angels 
which  had  the  seven  vials,  and  talked  with  me,  say- 
ing, Come  hither,  I  will  shew  thee  the  bride,  the 
Iamb's  wife. 

And  he  carried  me  away  in  the  spirit  to  a  great  and  high 
mountain,  and  shewed  me  that  great  city,  the  holy  Jerusa- 
lem, descending  out  of  heaven  from  God, 

Having  the  glory  of  God :   and  her  light  was  like  unto  a 
stone  most  precious : 
And  had  a  wall  great  and  high,  and  had  twelve  gates. 

*  *  *  H:  *  -::  * 
And  the  wall  of  the  city  had  twelve  foundations,  and  in 

them  the  names  of  the  twelve  apostles  of  the  Lamb. 

And  he  that  talked  with  me  had  a  golden  reed  to 
measure  the  city,  and  the  gates  thereof,  and  the  wall 
thereof. 

And  the  city  lieth  foursquare,  and  the  length  is  as  large 
as  the  breadth:  and  he  measured  the  city  with  the  reed, 
twelve  thousand  furlongs.  The  length,  and  the  breadth, 
and  the  height  of  it  are  equal. 

And  he  measured  the  wall  thereof,  an  hundred  and 
forty  and  four  cubits. 

******* 

And  the  building  of  the  wall  of  it  was  of  jasper;  and 
the  city  was  pure  gold,  like  unto  clear  glass. 

And  the  foundations  of  the  wall  of  the  city  were  gar- 
nished with  all  manner  of  precious  stones. 

******* 

And  the  twelve  gates  zvere  twelve  pearls;  every  several 
gate  was  of  one  pearl:  and  the  street  of  the  city  was  pure 
g</ld,  as  it  were  transparent  glass. 

And  I  saw  no  temple  therein: 

******* 

And  the  city  had  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither  of  the  moon, 
to  shine  in  it : 

*  *  *  *  *  *  * 
And  he  shewed  me  a  pure  river  of  water  of  life,  clear 

as  crystal. 

******* 
In  the  midst  of  the  street  of  it,  and  on  either  side  of  the 
river,  was  there  the  tree  of  life,  which  bare  twelve  manner 
of    fruits,   and  yielded  her   fruit  every  month :    and   the 
leaves  of  the  tree  were  for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 
******* 
And  there  shall  be  no  night  there:    and  they  need  no 
candle,  neither  light  of  the  sun;  for  the  Lord  God  giveth 
Aem  light. 

— Revei,ation  21 : 9-22 :  5. 


XXVIII 
HOW  CHRIST  WOULD  GOVERN 

NURTURED  from  babyhood  In  politics,  I  have 
watched  the  game,  first  in  my  own  land,  then  in 
others,  for  forty  years,  and  have  seen  how  futile  often- 
times are  these  efforts,  how  barren  these  careers  and 
controversies ;  whence  I  can  well  understand  why  John 
of  Patmos  could  only  imagine  the  new  Jerusalem,  the 
joy  of  the  whole  earth,  where  human  happiness  is  at 
last  attained,  as  a  city  set  on  an  exceeding  great  and 
high  mountain.  He  came  of  a  race  which  often  dwells 
like  Lot  in  cities  of  the  plain,  Sodom  and  Gomorrha, 
which  often  yearns  for  the  leeks  and  garlic  of  the  Nile 
Valley,  yet  has  ever  lifted  up  the  eyes  unto  the  hills 
whence  cometh  help, — unto  Sinai,  for  a  law  based  upon 
divine  justice  not  upon  selfish  interest — unto  Moriah, 
for  redemption — ^unto  Olivet,  for  a  Holy  Spirit — unto 
Calvary,  for  sacrifice — unto  Carmel,  for  prophetic 
fire — and  even  for  heresy,  unto  Gerizim.  On  a  moun- 
tain did  Christ  proclaim  the  Golden  Rule;  on  moun- 
tains was  He  tempted,  did  He  pray,  and  stand  trans- 
figured. Except  on  the  mountain,  there  can  be  no  city 
of  God.  As  long  as  men  dwell  in  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death,  amid  mists  of  prejudice,  fumes  of 
passion,  clouds  of  selfishness,  they  cannot  see  the  city. 
The  new  Jerusalem  is  on  a  mountain,  exceeding  great 
and  high ;  at  the  top  of  that  mountain,  there  Is  plenty 
of  room,  but  we  must  first  reach  the  top.     If  we  would 

257 


258  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

climb  the  mountain,  there  are  burdens  of  wealth,  of 
luxury,  of  display,  of  ambition,  of  hatred,  of  sin,  of 
an  uneasy  conscience,  of  unrighted  wrongs  and  resisted 
rights,  which  must  be  left  behind.  The  mountain  be- 
longs to  Christ  alone  and  if  we  are  to  be  part  of  it,  so 
must  we  also  belong  to  Him. 

No  More  Sea. 

The  Promised  Land  was,  perhaps,  the  only  country 
that  built  its  capital  city  on  the  summit  of  its  moun- 
tains. Like  the  Jordan  where  Christ  was  baptized, 
which  disappears  in  the  depths  of  the  Dead  Sea,  Jeru- 
salem, on  the  heights,  is  a  miracle  of  geography, 
unique,  as  was  the  Christ  there  slain.  At  eventide,  in 
Jerusalem,  the  eye  turns  westwards  and  can  catch  a 
glimpse  of  the  Mediterranean,  glowing  under  the  sun 
that  sets.  What,  then,  was  John's  wonder,  when,  in 
his  mingled  memories  and  dreams,  he  looked  for  the 
ocean  and  had  to  exclaim,  There  is  no  more  sea.  To 
him,  that  sea  meant  the  undiscovered.  In  religion,  it 
was  heathendom.  In  politics,  it  was  barbarism.  In 
travel,  it  was  danger.  In  friendship,  it  was  the  part- 
ing. In  race,  it  was  the  Gentiles.  So  interpreted,  how 
fast  the  sea  is  drying  up.  Nearly  all  the  world  is  dis- 
covered. Nearly  all  the  world  faces  the  Christ. 
Nearly  all  the  world  is  acquiring  a  culture.  Travel 
was  never  safer  nor  so  rapid.  You  cross  the  broadest 
ocean,  dry-shod,  in  an  airship.  You  talk  from  shore 
to  shore  by  telephone.  And  there  are  soon  to  be  no 
Gentiles.  In  India,  the  Jewish  Scriptures  are  more 
read  than  any  other  literature.  Everywhere  arises  the 
spiritual  Israel.  The  world  grows  smaller — ^becomes 
in  very  truth  like  one  big  city. 

The  old  Jerusalem  was  conquered,  embellished,  occu^ 


HOW  CHKIST  WOULD  GOYEEN        259 

pied  by  one  race,  chosen  from  the  families  of  mankind. 
It  was  the  last  word  in  a  hallowed  patriotism.  The 
frontiers  of  the  land  were  "  promised  " ;  none  might 
go  in,  none  might  go  out  except  by  a  sacrilege. 
Against  Egypt  on  the  one  hand,  against  Babylon  and 
Damascus  and  Nineveh  and  Tyre  on  the  other,  there 
was  ordained  a  Monroe  Doctrine  and  the  aim  of  states- 
men, the  command  of  prophets  was  a  splendid  isola- 
tion— a  hundred  per  cent.  Judaism.  What  la  Patrie  is 
to  the  Frenchman,  what  the  Fatherland  is  to  the  Ger- 
man, what  the  Stars  and  Stripes  are  to  the  American 
and  the  Union  Jack  to  the  British,  that  was  Mount 
Zion  to  the  Hebrews.  Never  was  there  so  pure,  so 
exalted  a  nationalism.  It  was  ancient  and  distinct  as 
the  Irish,  persistent  as  the  Armenian,  poetic  as  the 
Greek.  It  was  free  in  the  main  from  the  aggressive 
impulse  and  content  with  a  spiritual  claim  on  its  sons, 
dispersed  abroad.  Yet  the  nationalism  was  not  enough. 
And,  scattered  in  all  lands,  the  Jews  have  dwelt,  the 
only  nation  without  a  country,  an  ethnic  miracle  among 
miracles,  once  more  mysterious  and  unique. 

But,  in  the  providence  of  the  Almighty,  this  city  of 
Jerusalem  lay  at  the  very  centre  of  the  world's  con- 
verging trade  routes.  Palestine  was  a  land  that  could 
not  live  unto  itself — the  Sinn  Fein  life — and  destiny 
forced  it  to  be  international.  It  shall  come  to  pass  in 
the  last  days,  wrote  Isaiah,  that  the  mountain  of  the 
Lord  shall  be  established  and  all  nations  shall  flow  unto 
it.  Assume  a  tunnel  from  Dover  to  Calais,  across  the 
English  Channel,  and  it  will  be  possible  for  two  men 
to  start,  the  one  from  Aberdeen  in  Scotland  and  the 
other  from  Vladivostock,  on  the  far  coasts  of  Siberia, 
and  meet  by  railway  at  Jerusalem,  thence  proceeding 
by  continuous  route  to  Cape  Town.    It  shall  come  to 


260  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

pass.  From  the  city  of  an  exclusive  faith  and  tradi- 
tion and  patriotism,  Jerusalem  has  become  the  evident 
proof  in  bricks  and  mortar  that  all  the  world  is  one, — 
bound  together  by  ties  of  diplomacy,  commerce, 
thought,  finance,  travel. 

The  Gates  of  the  City. 

To  John  of  Patmos  belongs  the  peculiar  glory  of 
realizing  v/hat  this  would  mean  for  all  mankind.  Here 
was  a  city,  trodden  under  foot  of  Gentiles,  yet  he  who 
as  a  Jew  had  worshipped  within  her  now  ruined  temple, 
uttered  not  a  word  of  revenge,  appealed  by  no  hint  for 
reconquest.  The  only  Jerusalem  that  John  now  de- 
sired was, — in  Christ,  Who  received  the  very  spear  at 
His  heart, — a  city  of  welcome — even  for  the  very  na- 
tions that  had  besieged  her — a  city  of  glorious  sur- 
render to  all  who  would  invade  her.  The  gates  of  it 
shall  not  he  shut  at  all  by  day  and  there  shall  he  no 
night  there.  North,  south,  east  and  west  did  those 
gates  adorn  the  walls — 7iorth  for  the  stern  and  capable 
man  of  affairs;  the  Scotsman;  the  eager  and  efficient 
Canadian — south,  for  the  easier  nature  of  a  warmer 
climate,  the  Latin,  the  negro,  the  Hindu — east,  for  the 
dreamer  and  poet  and  mystic — west,  for  the  inventor, 
the  pioneer,  the  discoverer — so  universal  was  to  be  the 
immigration.  All  the  temperaments  are  invited  into 
the  new  Jerusalem,  all  are  there  needed,  and  he  that 
Cometh  will  be  in  no  wise  cast  out. 

The  city,  says  John,  lieth  four  square, — that  is,  sym- 
metrical, devoid  of  unfair  privileges,  equally  accessible 
to  all  races,  not  a  city  for  whites  rather  than  blacks, 
nor  for  English  rather  than  Germans,  nor  for  Euro- 
peans rather  than  Asiatics.  But  the  city  is  not  all  gate. 
If  the  walls  are  broad  and  comprehensive,  they  are 


HOW  CHEIST  WOULD  GOYERN        261 

also  not  less  high  and  unscaleable.  At  the  narrow 
gate,  you  must  enter  by  your  appointed  path.  You 
cannot  climb  up  another  way,  like  a  thief  and  a  robber^ 
Many  as  are  the  gates,  all  are  equally  honourable. 
There  is  not  a  diamond  gate  for  dukes  and  a  wooden 
gate  for  dustmen,  not  a  servants'  door  one  side  and  a 
door  for  visitors  on  the  other.  All  the  gates  are 
similar,  each  to  the  other,  for  all  are  of  pearl.  The 
beauty  of  holiness  is  to  be  at  last  the  glory  of  democ- 
racy. Our  Saviour  used- to  say  that  the  kingdom  of 
happiness  is  as  a  merchantman  seeking  such  pearls 
who,  finding  one  of  great  price,  sells  all  that  he  hath 
to  possess  himself  of  it.  Of  all  jewels,  the  pearl  is  the 
humblest,  being  created  not  in  the  fiery  depths  of 
eternal  rock,  but  in  a  modest  oyster,  deaf  and  dumb 
and  blind,  yet  doing  His  will  Who  makes  us  all.  It  is 
the  grain  of  sand  in  the  irritated  mollusc  that  gathers 
around  itself  the  sheen  of  the  pearl,  made  perfect 
through  tribulation.  One's  work  in  life,  one's  pain  to 
be  borne,  one's  duty  to  be  done,  one's  help  to  be  ren- 
dered,— that  is  the  gate  of  pearl — that  is  the  merchant- 
man's prize.  And  by  none  other  can  you  obtain  ad- 
mission. Find  the  man  with  a  waterpot  on  his  shoul- 
der,— follow  him,  you  apostles — and  he  will  lead  you 
to  the  upper  room  in  the  city  of  God,  where  sups  the 
Christ  with  those  who  love  Him. 

Kings  as  Citizens. 

Here  we  have,  then,  an  entirely  new  idea  of  what 
kind  of  men  and  women  may  hope  to  be  happy. 
Whereas  we  have  put  our  trust  hitherto  in  princes  and 
statesmen  and  scientists,  we  find  that  not  many  wise 
men  after  the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble 
are  called,  but  God  hath  chosen  the  foolish  things  of 


262  THE  VISIO]^  WE  FOEGET 

the  world  to  confound  the  wise  lest  any  mere  flesh 
should  glory  in  His  presence.  If  the  kings  of  the 
earth,  whether  of  territory  or  of  wealth  or  of  knowl- 
edge, come  to  the  city  at  all,  it  is  in  order  to  bring  their 
glory  and  honour  into  it.  It  is  to  give  what  they  have, 
not  to  display  it.  For  in  the  city  of  happiness,  the 
very  word  "  kingdom "  is  forgotten.  Even  "  the 
kingdom  "  of  heaven  is  fulfilled.  Kingdoms  suggest 
loyalty,  discipline,  laws,  authority,  compulsion,  of 
which  all  are  necessary  in  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 
But  love  is  the  fulfilment  of  the  law  and  in  the  city  of 
love  there  is  no  hint  of  litigation.  In  service  of  one 
another,  men  reach  the  perfect  freedom.  They  are 
not  conscious  that  they  have  to  do  what  is  right.  They 
want  to  do  it.  In  doing  their  duty,  they  shall  reign  for 
ever  and  ever,  and  with  a  power,  derived  direct  from 
the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb.  Each  personal 
and  each  national  impulse  assists  the  rest,  all  things 
working  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God. 
From  the  obedience  of  myriad  hearts  is  thus  woven  the 
harmonious  texture  of  myriad  lives. 

The  Golden  Streets. 

Of  metals,  but  one  is  mentioned  and  that  one  the 
most  precious — gold.  This  is  to  be  the  golden  age. 
Since  the  birth  of  their  race,  when  Rebekah  was  won 
for  Isaac  with  bracelets  of  gold,  the  Jews  have  ever 
been  allured  by  bullion.  It  was  of  gold  that  they  have 
ever  spoiled  their  oppressors,  whether  Egyptian  or  of 
any  other  race ;  it  was  gold  that  tempted  Achan  to  the 
doom  of  death;  Gehazi  to  leprosy;  Ananias  and  Sap- 
phira  to  a  fatal  stroke  and  Judas  Iscariot  to  suicide. 
The  love  of  money  was  thus  the  root  of  all  evil — they 
could  not  serve  both  God  and  Mammon.    Left  with 


HOW  CHRIST  WOULD  GOVERN        263 

gold  in  their  pockets,  they  reared  a  calf  thereof  and 
worshipped  it, — that  calf  a  perfect  symbol  of  wealth 
without  brains  or  objective,  a  creature  fit  only  to  be  led 
to  the  slaughter,  even  by  those  calculating  sycophants 
who  bow  down  to  gold,  as  long  as  gold  lasts.  Hence 
the  appeal  by  Moses  that  gold  be  contributed  to  the 
tabernacle,  for  social  adornment  rather  than  per- 
sonal,— suggesting  that  even  if  no  practical  end  be 
served,  it  is  better  to  use  wealth  for  worship  than  to 
waste  wealth  in  indulgence. 

With  the  temple  swept  away  and  the  very  idea  of  it 
merged  in  the  broader  conception  of  a  city,  John  of 
Patmos  had  to  think  out  what  should  be  done  with  the 
gold.  Candlesticks  and  altars  were  no  longer  needed 
and  Our  Saviour  had  shown  how  you  may  do  His  Will, 
in  His  strength,  without  ever  touching  money  at  all, 
for  in  His  possession  no  coin  was  ever  discovered. 
John  had  thus  to  assume,  either  that  gold  should  be 
left  outside  the  city,  as  an  evil  thing,  or  only  used  in 
the  city  for  the  good  of  everybody.  If  he  excluded 
gold, — ^wrote  a  blue  law  against  its  use — why  not  also 
exclude  jewels — chrysolite  and  the  topaz  and  the 
jacinth?  Why  have  anything  beautiful  in  the  ideal 
society?  Not  in  any  such  sense  was  John  a  Puritan. 
Beauty  was  to  him  a  thing,  not  to  be  abolished,  but  to 
be  shared.  He  used  gold  to  pave  the  heavenly  streets 
and  nobody  tore  up  the  pavement  to  fill  their  pockets. 

Henceforth,  the  value  of  wealth  was  to  be  simply 
that  human  life  which  wealth  sustains  and  supports. 
Not  in  Karl  Marx  will  men  ever  reach  this  result  but 
only  in  Christ,  and  better  far  is  a  truly  Christian  mil- 
lionaire than  a  Socialist,  however  sincere,  who  fails  of 
Christ's  spirit  and  consecration.  But  on  the  millionaire 
as  on  the  Socialist,  the  claim  of  Christ  is  absolute.    / 


264  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

zvant,  says  He,  your  gold  to  pave  my  streets,  and  so  it 
is  coming  to  pass.  More  and  more  surely  do  we  iind 
that  men  invest  in  enterprizes  that  assist  the  com- 
munity— in  railways,  water-power,  hospitals,  schools, 
housing,  old  age  pensions,  workmen's  insurance, — a 
hundred  other  projects.  The  investment  is  essentially 
the  same,  whether  it  be  by  tax,  by  gift  or  by  stocks  and 
shares, — in  all  cases,  the  gold  is  laid  on  the  streets,  to 
be  worn  away  under  the  foot  of  man,  and  renewed 
again  by  man's  effort, — a  currency  for  distributing 
among  the  community  the  joys  of  life.  Walking  the 
golden  streets,  friend  is  able  to  greet  friend,  to  bear 
gifts  the  one  to  the  other,  to  hurry  with  help,  to  dance 
with  pleasure — -all  because  the  talent  has  been  rescued 
at  last  from  the  napkin  of  a  selfish  ownership. 

The  gold  is  described,  curiously  enough,  as  trans- 
parent, like  glass,  clear  as  crystal.  It  is  solid  finance 
but  it  conceals  nothing.  I  suppose  that  no  single  cir- 
cumstance has  caused  the  ruin  of  happiness  more  fre- 
quently than  the  omission  of  men  and  women  to  keep 
accurate  accounts  of  their  money,  so  dealing  fairly 
with  themselves  and  their  neighbours.  There  is  not  a 
financial  scandal  that  could  have  survived  or  that  does 
survive  full  publication  of  the  balance  sheets  involved. 
There  is  no  mystery  in  the  art  of  company  promoting, 
except  in  so  far  as  truth  is  concealed.  The  fact  is  that 
where  the  gold  is  welded  into  the  fabric  of  public  utili- 
ties and  IS  itself  clear  as  crystal,  you  cannot  have  graft 
and  thieving  and  crooked  dealing.  Honesty  becomes, 
not  only  the  best,  but  the  sole  possible  policy. 

The  Golden  Rule. 

So  was  the  city  measured  with  a  golden  reed, — ^the 
golden  rule,  as  we  put  it — by  which  one  loves  a  neigh- 


HOW  CHEIST  WOULD  GOYEEN        265 

bour  as  one  loves  oneself.  At  first,  it  seemed  to  John 
that  the  names  on  the  gates  were  only  the  names  of 
the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  but  he  soon  found  that  all 
nations  v/ere  there  assembling,  that  we  are  all  very 
much  of  the  same  flesh  and  blood  and  that  whatever 
distinctions  remain  are  not  any  longer  of  race  and  re- 
ligion and  colour.  If  men  are  excluded,  it  is  for  quite 
other  reasons.  First,  there  are  the  fearful,  the  cow- 
ards, the  moderates  who  will  not  take  risks,  they  who 
hesitate  to  trust  either  God  or  man.  Such  are  never 
happy^.  No  woman  ever  respects  a  coward.  Then 
there  are  the  unbelieving,  the  people  who  do  not  want 
Christ  to  be  God,  risen  from  the  dead  and  near  them, 
day  by  day,  who  shrink  from  such  company,  not  uncon- 
vinced merely,  but  unconvincible.  Next,  there  are  the 
abominable,  the  discourteous,  the  cruel,  the  assertive, 
the  brutal, — people  who  are  indifferent  to  whatever 
distress  they  cause,  elbowing  their  way,  as  they  think, 
to  happiness,  but  never  getting  there.  Proscribed,  too, 
are  the  murderers — not  only  they  who  kill  the  body, 
but  they  who,  in  word  and  thought,  inspire  murder, 
who  carry  on  bitter  propaganda,  one  nation  against 
another,  so  stirring  up  war  and  bloodshed,  who  say  of 
their  brother,  Raca,  thou  fool,  who  sneer  and  taunt 
and  provoke.  They  hope  for  happiness  but  v/ill  not 
thus  secure  it.  Not  the  whore  but  the  zvhoremonger 
comes  next, — ^he  who  sacrifices  another  to  his  indul- 
gence, caring  nought  for  the  consequences;  she  may 
enter  heaven  with  Mary  Magdalene,  but,  for  him,  there 
is  no  happiness.  Sorcerers  are  unwelcome — people 
who  idly  suppose  that  some  mystic  cult  of  their  own, 
unrevealed  in  Christ,  can  ever  take  Christ's  place,  and 
seldom  has  there  been  a  greater  volume  of  sorcery  in 
the  world  than  there  is  to-day.     Not  only  the  ouija 


266  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

board  and  fortune-telling  and  spiritualism  are  abroad 
but  astrology  and  all  manner  of  mysticism — ^much  of 
it  Eastern,  and  ill-understood  by  Western  devotees;  in 
any  event,  decadent  from  Christ's  claim  and  His  truth. 
Curiosity  may  be  thereby  excited  but  without  happi- 
ness. There  is  idolatry.  We  erect  great  buildings, 
write  clever  books,  accumulate  mighty  fortunes,  de- 
velop large  Empires  and  Republics,  and  then  we  fall 
down  and  worship  them.  After  the  successful  man 
in  business  or  woman  in  society  or  actress  on  the  stage, 
we  run  madly,  not  to  tell  them  of  the  Christ  Who  would 
save  them  from  falling  into  the  abysses  of  disillusion- 
ment, but  to  offer  them  a  praise  which  by  right  is  His 
alone.  Suppose  that  we  do  thus  secure  entrance  into 
a  charmed  circle  of  "  the  best  people,"  are  we  or  are 
they  the  happier?  Not  one  whit.  We  give  nothing 
and  we  get  nothing. 

Liars  too  are  barred — indeed,  whatsoever  maketh  a 
lie.  There  are  people  who  act  as  if  you  could,  as  it 
were,  diddle  the  world  into  happiness.  They  would 
fool  some  of  the  people  all  of  the  time  and  all  of  the 
people  some  of  the  time  and  they  are  only  sorry  to  find 
that  they  cannot  fool  all  of  the  people  all  of  the  time. 
Christ  is  not  only  love — He  is  truth,  and  in  His  city 
it  will  be  truth  that  makes  folk  free.  No  secret  com- 
missions, no  secret  treaties,  no  secret  sins,  no  secret 
advantages  will  be  permitted.  They  shall  not  be  in 
any  wise  possible.  The  Lamb's  book  of  life,  where  is 
written  whatever  happens  to  each  of  us,  will  be  open 
for  public  inspection,  like  the  records  of  mortgages  in 
a  public  file. 

For  what  Christ  came  to  save  the  world  from  was 
the  bad  and  the  hard  times,  instead  of  which  He  would 
give  us  the  good  time,  not  for  a  few  to  enjoy  but  for 


HOW  CHKIST  WOULD  GOVERN        267 

all,  a  time  of  joy  and  of  peace,  with  no  spoil-sports; 
and  this  means  a  living  healthy  respondent  soul  within, 
us.  The  fearful  and  unbelieving  and  the  rest  of  them 
cannot  share  the  good  time  because  they  are  killing  not 
the  body  alone,  but  this  same  soul, — which  is  the  sec 
end  death.  There  are  men  with  everything  that  they^ 
want  who  are  yet  dead  to  happiness  and  there  are  men 
who  lack  everything  that  others  want  who  are  happy 
all  the  day  long.  The  fate  of  losing  one's  soul  was 
the  one  fate  that  appalled  the  Christ.  Don't  trouble, 
said  He,  about  those  who  kill  the  body, — ^they  do  not 
matter — but  him  who  destroys  both  body  and  soul  in 
hell — him  fear. 

The  Lake  of  Fire. 

The  building  of  God's  city  does  not  abolish  the  lake 
of  fire.  It  is  of  the  nature  of  a  city  that  it  should  not 
fill  all  space,  but  should  be  somewhere  for  men  to 
gather  out  of  space,  leaving  space  behind.  John's  final 
conception,  therefore,  was  of  a  city  surrounded  by 
outer  darkness,  which  included  a  lake  of  fire  in  the  gen- 
eral scheme  of  things.  A  lake  is  where  people  drown. 
They  swim  about  but  cannot  escape.  A  fiery  lake 
means  pain,  even  when  swimming.  This  terrible  image' 
means,  therefore,  an  unredeemed  memory,  burning 
with  unalleviated  remorse.  That  is  hell.  And  it  is 
obvious  that  they  who  pursue  wickedness  have  their 
part  there.  It  cannot  be  otherwise.  It  is  not  that 
they  are  locked  out  of  the  City  of  God — not  at  all. 
The  gates  of  the  city  are  never  shut,  not  by  day,  not  by 
night  if  night  there  were.  It  is  that  in  their  wicked- 
ness, some  would  actually  prefer  the  alternative.  Sa 
clear  is  to  be  their  choice  that  throughout  the  descrip- 
tions, Christ  is  not  mentioned  once,  jcxcept  as  the 


268  THE  VISION  WE  FOKGET 

Lamb,  as  the  Saviour  Who  died,  Whose  sacrifice  is 
available.  Whose  blood  cleanses.  The  Lake  of  Fire 
is  simply  a  state  of  persistent  rebellion  against  utter 
Love.  The  hotter  the  lake,  the  more  inviting  would 
seem  to  be  the  open  portals  of  the  city. 

No  More  Curse. 

For  there  comes  a  time  v^hen  they  who  follow  the 
Christ  are  entitled  to  choose  their  own  company.  If 
they  have  offered  Him  to  others,  in  all  His  fullness, 
there  is  no  more  that  they  can  offer.  We  must  insist 
ultimately  that  in  society — the  new  Eden  in  which 
civilization  supersedes  the  innocence  of  barbarism — 
there  shall  he  no  more  curse.  Had  Christ  not  died  and 
risen,  cruel  would  be  the  edict,  but  the  fact  is  that  He 
has  given  life  and  they  who  will  not  have  it,  are  thus 
without  excuse.  To  John  of  Patmos  was  shown  a 
pure  river  of  the  water  of  life,  proceeding  out  of  the 
throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb.  To  one  who  had 
lived  in  the  old  Jerusalem  where  water  was  stored  in 
cisterns  for  sparing  use,  such  imagery  awakened  dis- 
tant echoes  of  the  old  time,  and,  of  course,  it  Is  with 
the  lake  of  fire,  stagnant  and  sulphurous,  that  we  have 
to  contrast  the  flowing  river.  Happiness  never  broods 
over  the  past,  nor  nurses  wrongs,  but  takes  life,  mo- 
ment by  moment,  as  life  comes,  dipping  a  bucket  into 
the  flowing  stream  of  each  day's  events  and  duties  and 
so  drawing  the  draught  of  clear  water  that  cools  and 
revives  the  spirit.  That  stream  which  was  once  com- 
munion with  Christ  alone  is  now  a  communion  with  all 
mankind. 

The  Tree  of  Life. 

Here  then  is  a  new  Garden  of  Eden,  secured  to  tis 


HOW  CHEIST  WOULD  GOVEKN        269 

not  by  ignorance  of  good  and  evil,  but  by  full  knowl- 
edge thereof  of  every  sin  confessed,  every  disease  diag- 
nosed, every  throb  of  agony  shared.  And  the  good  is 
driving  out — is  overcoming  the  evil.  The  dreadful 
maladies  are  not  spreading  but  are  healed.  For  as  the 
water  of  life  flows  through  the  city,  there  rises  a  tree 
of  life,  a  permanent  and  developing  result  of  good  liv- 
ing, a  splendid  institution  in  the  very  street  of  the  city, 
with  roots  that  cling,  as  it  were,  to  the  river, — an  ad- 
ministration broad  based  upon  sympathy  with  the 
people's  needs.  For  every  month  of  the  year,  this 
tree  bears  a  suitable  fruit.  Is  there  poverty  ?  Is  there 
sickness?  Is  there  decrepitude?  The  leaves  of  the 
tree  are  for  the  healing  of  the  nations.  Somehow  the 
Christ-City  deals  in  Christ's  spirit  with  sorrow  and 
grievances  and  whatever  needs  adjustment.  Be  the 
season  cold  or  hot,  rain  or  fine,  there  is  a  care  by  the 
many  for  the  troubles  of  the  few. 

For  the  open  secret  of  the  city  is  no  more  and  no 
less  than  the  acknowledged  presence  therein  of  the 
Christ  Himself.  The  citizens,  as  they  go  about  their 
work  and  their  play,  see  His  face,  know  at  once  of 
what  He  would  disapprove,  and  why,  and  treating  Him 
ever  as  honourable  company,  respect  His  feeling,  as 
of  any  one  else  at  a  hospitable  board.  Hence  it  is  that 
in  their  foreheads  is  graven  His  name.  As  He  comes 
among  us,  slowly  but  surely  disappears  the  old  mark 
of  the  beast, — the  cruelties  of  commerce,  the  slaveries 
of  civilization,  the  vices,  the  selfishness  of  fashion. 
In  His  personality,  there  is  a  power  that  impresses 
itself  irresistibly  upon  all  who  look  upon  Him. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 
JOHN  OF  PATMOS  AWAKES 


AND  I  John  saw  these  things,  and  heard  them.    And 
when  I  had  heard  and  seen,  I  fell  down  to  worship 
before  the  feet  of  the  angel  which  shewed  me  these 
things. 

Then  saith  he  unto  me,  See  thou  do  it  not:  for  I  am 
thy  fellowservant,  and  of  thy  brethren  the  prophets,  and  of 
them  which  keep  the  sayings  of  this  book:    worship  God. 

And  he  saith  unto  me,  Seal  not  the  sayings  of  the  proph- 
ecy of  this  book:    for  the  tim.e  is  at  hand. 

He  that  is  unjust,  let  him  be  unjust  still :  and  he  which  is 
fihh}^  let  him  be  filthy  still:  and  he  that  is  righteous,  let 
him  be  righteous  still :  and  he  that  is  holy,  let  him  be  holy 
still. 

And  behold,  I  come  quickly ;  and  my  reward  is  with  me, 
to  give  every  man  according  as  his  work  shall  be. 

I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end,  the 
first  and  the  last. 

Blessed  are  they  that  do  his  commandments,  that  they 
may  have  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may  enter  in  through 
the  gates  into  the  city. 

For  without  are  dogs,  and  sorcerers,  and  whoremongers, 
and  murderers,  and  idolaters,  and  whosoever  loveth  and 
maketh  a  lie. 

I  Jesus  have  sent  mine  angel  to  testify  unto  you  these 
things  in  the  churches.  I  am  the  root  and  the  offspring  of 
David,  and  tl      bright  and  morning  star. 

And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that 
heareth  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  is  athirst  come :  and 
whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely. 

For  I  testify  unto  every  man  that  heareth  the  words  of 
the  prophecy  of  this  book,  If  any  man  shall  add  unto  these 
things,  God  shall  add  unto  him  the  plagues  that  are  written 
in  this  book: 

And  if  any  man  shall  take  away  from  the  words  of  the 
book  of  this  prophecy,  God  shall  take  away  his  part  out 
of  the  book  of  life,  and  out  of  the  holy  city,  and  from  the 
things  which  are  written  in  this  book. 

He  which  testifieth  these  things  saith,  Surely  I  come 
quickly;  Amen.    Even  so,  come,  Lord  Jesus. 

The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you  all 
Amen. 

— REVEI.ATI0N  22 :  8-21. 


XXIX 
JOHN  OF  PATMOS  AWAKES 

I  COME  now  to  the  end  of  my  task,  of  which  little 
remains  except  to  tell  what  help  I  have  had,  in 
these  dark  days,  from  St.  John  the  Divine,  as  he 
awakens  at  last  from  his  long  and  wonderful  trance. 
There  are  so  many  whose  ideals  have  been  shattered 
into  dust,  whose  enthusiasm  for  good  has  been  poisoned 
by  cynicism,  whose  hopes  have  been  deferred  and  their 
faith  lost,  in  God  and  in  man,  that  I  like  to  know  of 
this  John  also,  who,  after  dreaming,  had  in  like  manner 
to  return  to  earth,  and  there  find  himself,  not  in  any 
new  Jerusalem,  but  still  in  the  obscure  little  island  of 
Patmos,  surrounded  on  every  side  by  the  unescapable 
tyranny  of  circumstances  and  maintaining  those  S^d 
salt-mines  where  drudgery  broke  the  spirits  and  blinded 
the  eyes  of  the  workers.  The  walls  of  the  holy  city 
and  the  gates  of  pearl  and  the  streets  of  gold  and  the 
tree  of  life  which  had  seemed  so  real  faded  away  like 
a  mirage  and  in  the  dull  clatter  of  the  cold  dawn's 
duties,  the  music  of  the  harps  of  heaven  was  drowned. 
What  a  contrast  to  Zion,  the  Bride  of  Christ,  all  glori- 
ous and  radiant,  was  that  rotting  Roman  Empire,  that 
desolate  homeland  of  Galilee  and  Judea,  the  weariness 
of  John's  old  age,  the  collapse  of  his  personal  ambition ! 
We  are  not  told  in  so  many  words  that  he  woke  up 
but  we  feel  it,  as  we  read  his  short  disconnected  sen- 
tences, now  ecstatic — Come,  Lord  Jesus;  now  despond- 
ent— he  that  is  filthy  let  him  he  filthy  still;  and  then 
again  reminiscent,  as  when  he  murmurs  to  himself 

273 


274  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

about  the  river  of  life  and  the  tree.  It  was  as  if  tie 
could  not  quite  believe  that  he  was  really  and  truly 
back  in  the  old  world  again,  and  as  the  fact  was  forced 
on  him,  it  came  as  a  shock, — that  perverse  world,  so 
far  from  the  Christ,  so  heedless  of  Him,  which  would 
neither  read  nor  hear  nor  obey  the  Good  News.  For 
a  moment,  he  who  had  written  of  the  patience  of  the 
saints,  himself  seemed  almost  to  display  impatience. 
Well  then,  he  cried,  let  him  that  is  unjust  be  unjust 
still,  and  he  which  is  filthy  let  him  be  filthy  still,  and  he 
that  is  righteous,  let  him  be  righteous  still,  and  he  that 
is  holy,  let  him  be  holy  still — which  was  strange  lan- 
guage from  an  Apostle  to  whom  God  was  love.  Here 
in  Patmos,  you  had,  as  it  appeared,  the  first  of  the 
Calvinists,  to  whose  mind  the  eternal  God,  as  Alpha 
and  Omega,  predestined  for  every  man  his  inevitable 
fate.  No  place  for  repentance  is  mentioned,  for  a 
change  of  mind,  a  new  birth  in  Our  Lord,  the  miracle 
of  a  transformed  life  and  character.  No  account  is 
taken  of  the  fact  that,  as  yet,  few  of  the  multi-millions 
of  mankind  had  even  heard  Christ's  name,  that  His 
Cause  was  but  a  century  old,  and  His  Missions,  in  their 
infancy.  Had  John's  words  stood  alone,  the  Faith 
would  have  been  strangled  in  its  cradle  and  the  Church 
would  have  been  limited  to  a  few  select  souls. 

Yet  this  hard  saying  of  John  was  none  the  less  God's 
Truth.  It  comes  from  the  very  lips  of  the  Almighty 
and  is  based  on  the  ancient  wisdom  of  him  who  wrote 
the  Book  of  Proverbs.  He  taught  that  if  we  "re- 
fuse "  when  the  Father  "  calls,"  then  the  time  will  cer- 
tainly come  when  we  will  "  call,"  only  to  wait  in  vain 
for  the  Father's  answer.  Jesus  Himself  has  said  the 
same.  Not  every  one  who  in  the  great  day  greets  Him 
as  "  Lord  Lord  "  will  be  accepted  by  Him  as  friend 


JOHN  OF  PATMOS  AWAKES  275 

and  follower.  It  is  so  easy  to  be  a  Christian  when 
Christ  has  gained  the  day.  It  is  so  splendid  to  be  a 
Christian  when  Christ  has  nobody  except  yourself. 
When  John  says  to  the  filthy  that  they  may  be  filthy 
still,  what  he  means  is  that  there  is  no  compulsory 
service  of  Jesus  Christ.  You  must  make  Him  your 
choice.  The  State  may,  for  its  own  sake,  prohibit  evil, 
turning  out  the  dogs  and  sorcerers  and  zvhoremongers 
and  murderers  and  idolaters  and  whosoever  loveth  and 
maketh  a  lie.  That  is  the  law.  It  is  the  rule  of  force. 
But  in  Christ,  it  is  only  a  case  of  Whosoever  Will.  If 
a  man  prefers  to  be  wicked,  let  him  prefer  it.  If  he 
does  not  want  to  come  to  church,  it  is  his  eternal  loss. 
Better  an  empty  church  than  a  church  that  offers  the 
Christ,  with  an  apology,  with  inducements,  as  if  the 
Christ  were  not  enough. 

Just  Brother  So  and  So. 

As  John  aroused  himself  from  so  deep  a  slumber, 
he  became  curiously  conscious  of  the  angel  who  had 
shelved  him  the  new  Jerusalem.  So  actual  had  been 
the  vision  that  he  would  say  to  himself,  To  think  that  I, 
John,  sazv  these  things  and  heard  them!  Half  awake, 
he  flung  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  angel  who  had  been 
his  guide  in  the  dream  and  then  heard  a  voice,  strangely 
familiar,  just  Brother  So-and-So,  who  cared  for  him 
in  his  infirm  old  age,  and  said  to  him  gently.  See  thou 
do  it  not:  for  I  am  thy  fellowservant,  and  of  thy 
brethren  the  prophets,  and  of  them  which  keep  the 
sayings  of  this  Book;  Worship  God.  And  so  did  it 
dawn  on  John's  mind  that,  after  all,  even  angels  are 
only  messengers  or  missionaries,  that  a  man's  angel 
may  be  his  valet,  that  an  apostle's  angel  may  be  he  who 
tends  him  in  his  infirmity. 


276  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

If  it  had  not  been  for  that  unknown  disciple  of  Pat- 
mos,  we  should  never  have  had  the  Book  of  Revelation. 
He  it  was  who  assured  John  that  the  Vision  was  faith- 
ful and  true  and  that  it  was  intended  not  for  one 
favoured  prophet  but  for  all  servants  of  the  Lamb. 
He  it  was  who  urged  John  to  write  what  he  had  seen 
and  heard.  Get  the  Vision  to  the  people,  in  language 
that  they  can  understand;  don't  seal  up  the  sayings  of 
the  prophecy  of  this  book;  don't  frighten  away  the  dis- 
ciples with  your  clamour  of  interpretation,  or  regard 
the  Vision  as  if  it  were  merely  intended  for  you,  as  an 
individual,  to  hear  and  see.  The  time  is  at  hand — 
these  things,  here  foretold,  are  actually  occurring.  In 
the  morning's  newspapers,  you  find  the  Beasts  and  the 
Dragons  and  the  Lamb  on  the  Mount.  It  is  the  very 
time  of  times  in  which  to  be  alive.  It  means  that 
every  hour  of  every  day,  the  Great  Event,  to  which  the 
whole  creation  moves,  is  developing  throughout  the 
universe.  In  His  own  way,  at  His  own  season,  over 
His  own  kingdom,  the  Christ  is  coming  to  reign. 

Look — I  Come  Quickly. 

As  the  Vision  faded  away  and  Patmos  rose  again  in 
the  foreground  of  life,  John  discovered  himself  no 
longer  alone.  Let  the  City  of  God  vanish  into  a  dim 
Future;  Christ  was  here  in  the  Present,  speaking  in 
His  First  Person,  and  giving  His  own  counsel,  just  as 
of  old.  Before  He  died.  He  had  said  to  John, ''  I  will 
come  again  and  receive  you  unto  myself/'  and  now  He 
says,  ''  Behold — Look — I  come  quickly.  It  is  I  Who 
sent  the  angel  to  testify  these  things  in  the  churches. 
It  is  I  Who  am  the  root  and  offspring  of  David — the 
bright  and  morning  star.''  Let  there  be  chaos,  let  there 
be  reconstruction, — through  reconstruction  and  chaos. 


JOHN  OF  PATMOS  AWAKES  277 

I  am  the  Risen  Christ.  Let  criticism  reduce  King 
David  to  a  petty  princeHng,  I  am  his  root  and  off- 
spring,— ^his  Creator  and  his  Descendent — ^his  God  and 
his  Son.  Let  science  discover  stars  of  unimaginable 
number,  distance  and  magnitude.  None  are  so  bright 
as  the  rays  of  hope  and  love  and  joy  with  which  I, 
the  Light  of  the  World,  illuminate  the  myriad  hearts 
that  are  my  own. 

Wandering  in  the  streets  of  the  holy  city,  John  was 
the  idealist,  dreaming  of  the  perfect  society,  enraptured 
with  its  details,  forgetful  that  not  one  stone  had  been 
laid  as  yet,  except  the  foundations,  far  below  the  sur- 
face of  things.  But  now,  with  the  city  out  of  mind,  he 
discovered  how  much  more  than  any  city  is  a  friend  in 
need.  When  for  the  third  time,  the  Lord  said, 
"Surely,  I  come  quickly,''  John  answered  at  once, 
Even  so,  come.  Lord  Jesus,  One  truth,  at  least,  about 
the  coming  of  the  Christ  is  that  He  is  ever  ready  to  be 
where  He  is  welcome.  Christ  will  stand  for  office  in 
any  election  where  He  is  the  only  candidate  and  will 
accept  responsibility  for  ruling  any  country  where  He 
alone  is  king.  But  there  is  no  man,  no  teacher,  how- 
ever illustrious,  with  whom  He  is  ready  to  enter  into 
competition.  Since  society  chose  Barabbas,  by  unani- 
mous plebiscite,  Christ  the  Ascended  waits  until,  by 
unanimous  plebiscite,  society  reverses  the  decision.  He 
comes,  not  to  argue  and  persuade  and  pardon,  but  to 
reign.  And  He  will  only  come  again,  where  He  can 
reign. 

Hence  it  was  that  John,  moved  from  his  Calvinism 
by  the  intimate  companionship  of  the  Christ,  recalled 
his  favourite  Isaiah  who  had  cried,  in  rough  eager- 
ness. Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the 
waters,  and  had  promised  to  all  who  thus  came  that  the 


2Y8  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

Lord  would  abundantly  pardon.  Glorious  to  John  as 
was  the  prospect  of  the  Christ's  second  coming  to  men, 
as  we  are  accustomed  to  call  it,  what  impressed  him  in 
the  meantime  was  the  first  coming  of  men  to  the 
Christ.  Until  there  are  citizens,  there  can  be  no  city. 
Until  there  are  righteous  hearts,  there  can  be  no  right- 
eous institutions.  The  happiness  of  homes  is  neither 
more  nor  less  than  but  precisely  equal  to  the  happiness 
of  those  who  are  included  therein.  Contend  as  you 
like  about  the  topics  which  fill  the  Apocalypse, — 
women's  rights,  fashion,  commerce,  war,  conquest, 
churches,  social  reforms,  disease — and  you.  will  find  at 
the  end  of  it  all  that  you  get  nowhere  in  the  pursuit  of 
happiness,  except  as  you  draw,  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously, near  to  the  Christ.  The  Spirit,  writes  John, 
and  the  Bride  say.  Come,  and  it  is  so.  Over  the  world, 
torn  and  restless,  there  is  in  the  very  air  we  breathe  a 
Presence,  inviting  us  to  the  Christ.  Of  the  Bible,  we 
may  have  forgotten  everything,  or  never  have  known 
save  little,  but  of  the  Man  of  Galilee  and  Calvary  and 
Olivet,  we  are  somehow  observant.  Of  Him,  we  may 
read  hardly  a  word,  but  none  the  less  He  is  there.  It 
is  true  that  the  Bride  also  says,  Come;  the  churches 
invite  us ;  but  this  strange  pervading  Spirit  depends  not 
on  the  churches,  nor  is  confined  to  them.  It  blows 
where  it  listeth  and  we  hear  the  sound  thereof.  It  is 
a  whisper — Come — find  Him  again — grip  Him — make 
Him  your  own. 

'  While  the  Spirit  thus  calls,  it  is  the  duty  also  of 
the  Bride  to  echo  the  call,  to  hug  no  joy  to  mere  self, 
but  to  share  the  Christ  with  all  who  will  receive  Him. 
Let  him  that  heareth  say  come.  Throw  open  the  doors 
of  the  sanctuary — multiply  the  seats  around  the  table 
of  the  Lord — make  welcome  the  sons  and  daughters 


JOHN  OF  PATMOS  AWAKES  279 

of  poverty  and  shame — lecture  them  not — drop  your 
problems — give,  give  the  Christ.  Compared  with 
Him,  what  matters  your  eloquence?  He  is  not  in- 
carnate rhetoric.  He  is  life  and  food  and  drink  and 
love  and  joy. 

Know  you  nothing  of  the  Spirit?  Care  you  nothing 
for  the  Bride?  Hear  you  nothing  of  the  Voice?  Be 
it  so.  There  are  people,  deaf,  dumb,  blind,  who  still 
have  need,  and  of  them  also,  John  writes.  Let  him 
that  is  athirst,  says  he,  let  him  come  too.  Even  for  the 
uninvited  guest,  there  is  in  Christ  a  place  prepared. 
To  Him,  you  may  come,  without  note  or  card  to  in- 
troduce you.  At  His  royal  levee,  the  only  etiquette  is 
your  parched  and  hungry  nature.  Let  prelates  don 
their  mitres  and  priests  their  vestments,  let  churches 
organize  and  let  organs  peal  forth  anthems,  let  choirs 
sing  their  psalms  and  acolytes  swing  their  censers,  but 
John  says  unto  you,  whether  or  not  you  attend  this  or 
any  other  ceremonial,  that  whosoever  will  may  take  the 
water  of  life  freely.  Not  the  water  of  religion,  not 
the  wine  of  wealth,  but  the  water  of  life,  now  and  for- 
ever more,  that  flows  always,  and  includes  all  things, 
in  the  Christ  Who  is  all  in  all.  Dwell  you  where  you 
may,  in  riches  or  poverty,  in  sickness  or  health,  under 
Russian  or  British  or  Indian  or  American  or  French 
or  African  skies, — wherever  you  dwell,  on  farm,  in 
tenement,  aboard  ship, — the  river  of  life  flows  at  your 
feet  and  you  may  take  of  the  water,  humbly  stooping, 
as  much  as  your  hands  will  hold.  It  is  a  river,  in- 
finitely abundant,  the  only  limit  being  your  little 
pannikin. 

So,  as  John  contemplated  those  seven  struggling 
churches  in  Asia,  did  he  find  that  more  than  any 
church  did  the  Christ  love  the  loneliest  of  His  disciples. 


280  THE  VISION  WE  FOEGET 

So  did  he  pass  through  time  and  eternity  only  to  find 
himself  at  the  end  of  it  all  once  more  with  the  same, 
now  familiar  Friend.  Did  he  ascend  into  heaven,  did 
he  fathom  the  depths  of  hell,  did  he  fly  with  angels 
through  infinite  spaces  and  stand  in  awe  at  sight  of  an 
eternal  throne,  it  mattered  not,  for  through  it  all,  he 
heard  the  voice  of  the  Christ,  and  from  the  love  of 
Christ,  nothing,  be  it  beast  or  dragon  or  devil  or  dis- 
tance, be  it  fire  or  plague  or  war  or  revolution,  nothing, 
I  say,  could  separate  him.  Test  him  with  heresy,  test 
him  with  politics,  test  him  with  kingcraft,  test  him  with 
commerce,  test  him  with  luxury,  test  him  with  terrors, 
and  from  all  the  tests,  he  emerges  a  man  of  Christ. 

And  thus  was  it  that  he  won  the  right  to  add  unto 
us  his  benediction — The  gift  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
he  with  you  all.  Amen.  We  leave  this  good  man 
praying,  not  for  any  particular  church,  but  for  his 
brothers  and  sisters  everywhere  and  at  every  time,  that 
they  all  may  have  the  gift,  that  they  all  may  be  as  truly 
in  Christ  as  was  St.  John  the  Divine  himself.  Not 
that  the  Christ  should  be  mine  alone,  a  Catholic  Christ 
or  a  Protestant  Christ,  or  an  English-speaking  Christ, 
but  that,  ye  millions  of  Moslems  and  Jews  and  Con- 
fucians and  Buddhists,  this  same  Redeemer  should  be 
ours — yours  and  mine  together — a  Trinity  in  Unity — 
divine  as  Lord,  human  as  Jesus,  and  anointed  with  the 
Spirit  as  Christ — to  be  received  thus  in  His  complete 
dignity  and  power,  a  gift  unsearchable  and  by  no 
means  to  be  restricted.  So  rings  out  this  benediction 
from  the  defeated  apostle  of  Patmos  and  the  whole 
world  will  one  day  bow  the  head  and  bend  the  knee  as 
the  voice  of  many  waters  answers,  Amen — So  be  it- 
Christ,  in  Love,  our  Fate,^ 


Index 


Aaron,  135,  142 

Abaddon,  no 

Aberdeen,  259 

Abraham,  65,  78,  135 

Achan,  262 

Aeroplanes  Prophesied,  10,  236- 

237 
Africa,  157,  212,  279 
Ahab,  43 
Airships,  258 

Alexander  the  Great,  114,  203 
Alexandria,  102 
Alford,    Dean,  on  Neglect   of 

Apocalj^se,  17 
Ali  Baba,  163 

Alpha  and  Omega,  22,  23,  251 
Altar,  30 

Altar,  Four  horned,  113-114 
Altar,  Golden,  94 
Altar  of  Fire,  189 
American  Colonies,  157 
American  Constitution,  134 
Ammonites,  61 
Amos,  22 
Ananias,  262 
Ancient  of  Days,  32,  34 
Angel,  94,  113 
Angel  and  Book,  121-127,  143 
Angel  in  Sun,  225 
Angel  of  Death,  190 
Angel  of  Law,  227 
Angel  of  Pity,  107,  123 
Angel  of  Waters,  199 
Angels,  29,  48 
Angels  and  Michael,  150 
Angels,  Four,  85 
Angels,    Four,    of    Euphrates, 

114 
Angels  of  Churches,  55,  63 
Angels,  Seven,  93,  96,  197 
Angels,  Three  flying,  179-181 
Antipas,  the  Martyr,  46 
Apocrypha,  254 
Apollo,  71 
Apollos,  42 
Apollyon,  no 
Apostacy,    104 
Apostles,  29 
Arabian  Nights,  163 

281 


Arabians,  61 

Argonne,  116 

Aristocracy  overwhelmed,  141- 

142 
Arithmetic  of  Apocalypse,  163- 

168 
Armageddon,  171,  203 
Armenia,  80,  loi,  259 
Art,  29,  199 
Artillery,  loi,  116,  144 
Assyria,  78 
Astrologers,  22 
Astronomy,  103 
Athens,  21,  65,  71 
Austerlitz,  203 
Australia,  212 
Austria,  114,  216 

Babei,,  Tower  of,  249 
Babylon,  24,  78,  114,  131,  133, 

134,  186,  242,  259 
Babylon,  Ruin  of,  180,  209-216 
Balaam,  41,  42,  44 
Balak,  41,  42 
Bankruptcy,  198 
Baptist,  31,  86 
Bear,  Feet  of,  157 
Beast,  202,  226,  229 
Beast,  Victory  over,  197 
Beasts,  Four,  65,  70 
Beasts,  from  Sea,  156 
Beethoven,  18 
Belteshazzar,  22 
Berlin,  202 

Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  18 
Bethany,  45 
Bethlehem,  48 
Bible,  17,  96,  103,  115,  123,  125, 

131,  171,  181,  278 
Birth  Control,  150 
Bits  of  Horses'  Mouths,  190 
Blake,  William,  18,  250 
Blood  and  Fire,  102 
Boanerges,  61 

Bolshevism,  35,  108,  126,  159 
Bomb-throwing,  204 
Book  and  Angel,  121-127 
Book  of  Life,  48,  69,  71,  23I, 
266 


282 


i:n^dex 


Bottomless  Pit,   no,   136,  227, 

228 
Boxer  Rebellion,  171 
Brazilians,  57 
Bride  of  Christ,  20,   147,  220, 

250,  253,  273,  278 
Bridegroom,  46 
Britain,  103,  157,  247,  279 
Bruised  Heel,  34 
Buddhists,  103,  280 
Bunyan,  19 
Burne-Jones,  19 

C^SARS,  Palaces  of,  254 

Calais,  259 

Calf,  65 

Calvary,  63,  64,  69,  257,  278 

Calvinism,  274,  277 

Cana,  45 

Canada,  114,  260 

Canaille,  108 

Candlesticks  or  Lamps,  20,  32, 

42,  53,  56,  263 
Canon  of  Scripture,  123 
Cape  Town,  259 
Capital,  10,  36,  72,  160 
Card-Playing,  216 
Carmel,  95,  257 
Carthage,  157 
Casualty  Lists,  79 
Cathedral  Towns,  249 
Cathedrals,  20,  29 
Catholics,  10,  86,  135,  280 
Channel  Tunnel,  259 
Chastity  and  Obedience,  175 
Chebar,  River,  236 
Chemistry,  240 
Chicago  Wheat  Pit,  174 
Child    Labour    in    Lancashire, 

125 
China,  57,  125,  171 
Cholera,  79 

Christ  as  Crucified,  172 
Christ  on  Crusade,  219-222 
Christ  Risen,  Vision  of,  31-35 
Christ  Scientist,  188 
Church  Militant,  222 
Churches,  85,  102,  198 
City  of  God,  30,  31,  102,   104, 
^235 
City,  Tenth  destroyed,  141 


Civilization  without  Vision,  18 
Clinics,  102 
Cloud,  20,  142,  188 
Colosse,  42 
Coloured  Races,  73 
Colporteurs,  123,  124 
Commerce  Symbolized,  159 
Commerce,  Trickeries  of,  173 
Conan  Doyle,  164 
Confucians,  280 
Constantinople,  102 
Corinth,  71 
Covenanters,  54 
Creation,  29 
Creator,  69,  73 
Cromwell,  225 
Crowns,  20,  65 
Cubism,  29 
Curse  Disappears,  268 
Czar,  114 

Daily  Mau,,  96 

Damascus,  259 

Dance,  216 

Daniel,  22,  25,  32,  33 

Daniel's  Image,  242 

Dante,  18 

Danton,  no 

Danube,  114 

Dark  Ages,  104 

David,  36,  61,  133,  276,  277 

David,  Root  of,  71 

Dead  Sea,  258 

Dead,  Souls  of,  185-191 

Death,  79,  230 

Death  Overcome,  252 

Delay,  No  Longer,  126 

Delphi,  Oracle  at,  23,  164 

Der  Tag,  115 

Devil,  227,  229 

Disease,  198-199 

Disease  Overcome,  253 

Disestablishment,  54 

Divorce,  44,  198 

Doctors,  72 

Dogs,  275 

Dover,  259 

Dragon   attacks    Everywoman, 

149 
Drama,  216 
Drama,  Degraded,  199 


INDEX 


Drink,  216 
Dug-outs,  8i 
D3mamite,  200 

Eagi^e,  65,  107 

Earthquake,  141,  204 

East  and  West,  57,  72,  201 

East,  Kings  of,  201 

Ecclesia,  47 

Ecclesiastes,  23 

Eden,  Garden  of,  72,  114,  117, 

122,  268 
Edom,  209 

Egypt,  24,  61,  78,  141,  147,  259 
Elba,  229 
Elders,  Four  and  Twenty,  64, 

65,  71,  73,  94,  143,  219,  230 
Eleusinian  Mysteries,  23 
Elijah,  65,  95,  228 
Elisha,  78 
Elysium,  21 
Emerald,  64 
Endor,  185 
Enteric,  79 
Environment,  36 
Ephesus,  42,  48,  53,  54,  56,  71 
Episcopalian,  17,  86 
Eschatology,  20 
Esther,  Book  of,  31 
Euphrates,  113-114,  122,  201 
Everywoman,  147-152,  210 
Eyes,  Seven,  72 
Ezekiel,   25,    32,   Z3,    "^^7*    131. 

132,  236-237 

Faithfui,  and  True,  221,  253, 

276 
False  Prophet,  202,  226,  229 
Farewell  Letter  from  Author's 

Father,  11,  12 
Fearful,  265 
Field  of  Grain,  189 
Finished,  It  is,  204 
Fishes,  30 
Food  Rations,  79 
Foreheads,  Name  on,  269 
Fornication,  46 
Fortune  Tellers,  43 
Forty  Furlongs,  166,  190 
Eorty-two  months,  158,  168 


Four  and  Twenty  Elders,  219, 
230 

Four,  as  Number,  165 

Four  Beasts,  65,  198 

Four  Quarters  of  Earth,  228 

Fowls  flying,  226 

Fox,  George,  65 

France,  108,  no,  114,  136,  259, 

279 
Francis  of  Assisi,  95 
Freemasonry,  164 
Frogs,  Three,  202-203 

Gai.ii;ee,  19,  30,  33,  45,  70,  188, 

273,  278 
Gates  of  City,  20,  260 
Gates  of  Pearl,  30 
Gehazi,  262 
Geneva,  66 
Gentiles,  102 
Gerizim,  257 
Germany,    114,    115,    136,    157, 

172,  247,  248,  259,  260 
Gethsemane,  y2^  189,  202 
Gettysburg,  203 
Gibbs,  Sir  Philip,  214 
Girondists,  108 
Glass,  Clear  as  Crystal,  264 
Glass,  Sea  of,  196 
Gog  and  Magog,  228 
Golden  Girdle,  33,  197 
Golden  Rule,  264-265 
Gomorrha,  257 
Gospel,  Everlasting,  179 
Gothic,  29,  30 
Goths,  102,  no 
Graft,  133 

Grass,  One-third  Burnt,  102 
Great  High  Priest,  32 
Great  White  Throne,  230 
Greece,  71,  242,  259 
Grieg,  18 
Guillotine,  187 
Guns,  80,  lOi 

Hades,  230 

Hagar  in  Wilderness,  150 

Hail,  Plague  of,  144,  205 

Hamburg,  103 

Hampden,  96 

Handel,  19 


284 


INDEX 


Harps,  72,  175 

Heads,  Seven,  of  Beast,  157 

Heads,  Seven,  of  Dragon,  149 

Hebrew  Language,  41 

Hell,  19,  79,  230,  231,  267 

Hereditary  Principle  Declines, 

213 
Heredity,  36 

Herod,  20,  61,  132,  147,  248 
Hezekiah,  188 
Hindenburg,  116 
Hindu,  103,  171,  260 
Holy  City,  30 
Homer,  10 
Horns,  113 
Horns,  Seven,  72. 
Horns,  Ten,  of  Beast,  157 
Horns,  Ten,  of  Dragon,  149 
Horns,  Two,  of  Beast,  160 
Horses,  71,  190 
Horses,   Four,   of  Apocalypse, 

20,  11,  93,  94 
Hospitals,  80,  96,  253 
Hotels,  190 
Humanities,  65,  71 
Hunger  and  Thirst,  89 
Hurley,  69 

Ideai,ists,  70 

Idolaters,  275 

Idolatry,  266 

Incense,  94,  95,  1 13 

Infant  Mortality,  149 

India,  212,  258,  279 

Indus,  114 

Isaac,  262 

Isaiah,   36,  61,   62,  65,  66,  89, 

198,  259 
Islands  flee  Away,  204 

Jacobins,  108 

Jairus,  Daughter  of,  188 

James  the  Great,  61,  148 

Jasper  Stone,  64,  254 

Jazz,  Music,  175 

Jehu,  78 

Jeremiah,  127 

Jerusalem,   36,  61,  65,   70,   71, 

loi,   102,   no,   131,   133,   141, 

258,  259 


Jerusalem,  Christ  weeps  over, 

215 
Jerusalem,  New,  77-80 
Jerusalem,  Temple  at,  30 
Jew  and  Gentile,  IZ 
Jewish  People,  259,  280 
Jezebel,  41,  43,  44 
Joab,  114 
Joan  of  Arc,  96 
Job,  69,  78 
Joel,  102 

John  of  Patmos,  19,  21,  25 
John's  Mother,  148 
John  the  Baptist,  45 
Jordan,  258 
Judah,  61,  86 
Judas  Iscariot,  262 
Judea,  273 
Jules  Verne,  236 

Kaiser,  61,  79,  171,  196 
Kendal,  England,  11 
Key,  20 

King  of  Kings,  214,  249 
Kings  of  East,  201 
Knox,  John,  65,  95 
Koran,  181 
Korea,  57,  96 
Kropotkin,  108 

Labour,  10,  160 

Lady  of  Fashion,  210-214 

Lake  of  Fire,  19,  20,  226,  231, 

267 
Lambeth,  66 
Lamb  of  God,  64,  71,  12,  88, 

113,  267-268 
Lamb  on  Mount,  171-175 
Lamps  or  Candlesticks,  20,  62 
Lampstand,  53,  54,  64 
Land  and  Sea,  124 
Laodicea,  31,  41,  42,  46,  49,  56, 

61,  65 
Last  Judgment,  20 
Law  and  Prophets,  135 
Lawyers,  72 
Lazarus,  Tomb  of,  188 
League  of  Nations,  30,  85 
Learning,  72 
Lenine,  no 
Leopard,  Body  of,  157 


INDEX 


285 


Liars,  266,  275 

Lightnings,  95,  125,  144,  204 

Light  of  World,  104 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  156 

Lion,  65,  157 

Lion  of  Tribe  of  Judah,  71 

Liquor  Traffic,  114 

Literature,  Decadent,  199 

Little  Bethel,  71 

Living    Creatures    from     Sea, 

156 
Locusts,  108,  109 
London,  202 
Lord  of  Lords,  214,  249 
Louvain,  23 
Ludendorf,  116 
Lunacy,  80 
Luther,  115,  172 
Luxuries  of  Civilization,  209- 

210 
Lvoff,  108 

McKJBNZiE,  F.  A.,  96 
Madonna,  148,  149,  210 
Magicians,  22 
Magog,  228 
Ma^homet,  55 
•Mailed  Fist,  172 
Mammon,  262-263 
•Manchu  Dynasty,  125,  171 
Marat,  no 

Marie  Antoinette,  164 
Mark  Antony,  185 
Mark  of  Beast,  174,  197,  241 
Marriage,  44,  96 
Marriage  Supper  of  Lamb,  226 
Martyrs,  87 

Mary  Magdalene,  212,  265 
Marx,  Karl,  263  _ 
Massacre  of  St.  tJartholomew, 

171 
Medes,  I14 
Medicine,  10 
Mediterranean,  258 
Megiddo,  203 
Melchizedek,  135 
Merchants,  72 
Mexico,  114 

Michael,  and  Angels,  150 
Michael  Angelo,  19 
Microscope,  65 


Militarism,  210 

Millennium,    30,    166,    225-231, 

240 
Milton,  18,  88 
Mirabeau,  108 
Missionaries,  96 
Missions,  96 
Moabites,  44 
Modern  War,  10 
Mohammed,  157 
Moltke,  203 
Monasteries,  64 
Money  Changers*  Tables,  133 
Money-snatching     Civilization, 

149 
Monroe  Doctrine,  259 
Moon  Eclipsed,  104 
Moriah,  257 
Morning  Star,  62 
Morocco  Leather  Bibles,  41 
Moscow,  159,  216 
Moses,  44,  62,  65,  135,  142,  185, 

196 
Moslems,  55,  280 
Mountain,     Great    and    High, 

257 
Mountain    Hurled    into    Sea, 

102 
Mountains  disappear,  204-205 
Mount  Zion,  171,  172 
Movies,  54,  132 
Mozart,  172 
Murderers,  265,  275 

Naboth,  43 

Nain,  Widow  of,  188 

Name  of  Beast,  158 

Napoleon,  203 

Nathaniel,  173-174 

Nazareth,  22 

Nebuchadnezzar,  242 

Negation  of  God,  107 

Negroes,  171,  172,  260 

Nero,  147 

New  Jerusalem,  132,  213,  228, 

247-269,  273 
Newspapers,  10,  17,  31,  109 
Niagara,  34 
Nicolaitanes,  42-43 
Nicolas,  43 
Night  Disappears,  254 


286 


INDEX 


Nile,  257 

Nineveh,  103,  209,  259 
Nirvana,  230 
Northcliffe,  Lord,  96 

OhJ)  Testament,  22,  24,  33,  41, 

78.  185 
Olives,  Mount  of,  135,  257 
Olivet,  278 

Olive  Trees,  131-137,  240 
Omega,  Alpha  and,  22,  23,  251 
Opium,  114 
Oratorio,  175 
Organ  Music,  29 
Orion,  164 
Ouija  Board,  43 
Oxford,  21 
Oxford  Helps  to  Bible,  24 

Pain  Overcome,  252 

Palaces,  102 

Palestine,  259 

Papacy,  171 

Paradise  Lost,  19 

Paris,  79,  190,  201,  202 

Parliaments,  31 

Pasadena,  103 

Passover  Interrupted,  247 

Patagonian,  230 

Pathology,  240 

Patmos,  21,  61,  273 

Paul,  19,  42,  56,  65,  127,  142 

Pearl,  Gates  of,  261,  273 

Pentecost,  loi,  141 

Pergamos,  46,  47,  56 

Persia,  114,  242 

Pessimists,  70 

Peter,  19,  loi,  196 

Peter  the  Hermit,  94 

Petrograd,  103,  204,  216 

Philadelphia,  31,  56,  61 

Pictures,  96 

Pilgrim  Fathers,  134 

Pillar  of  Cloud,  142 

Pisgah,  Mount,  21 

Plagues,  30,  31 

Plato,  65 

Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  164 

Poison  Gas,  80,  116 

Politicians,  31 

Pompeii,  102,  238 

Pontius  Pilate,  248 

Post-Millenarianismy  2Q 


Prayer.  94,  95 

Precious  Stones,  253,  263 

Pre-Raphaelites,  19 

Presbyterians,  65 

Press,  Reptile,  202-203 

Priest,  Blessing  of,  196 

Priest,  Great  High,  94 

Priests,  30 

Prince  of  Peace,  78 

Prisons,  96 

Profiteers,  116 

Prohibition,  227 

Projectiles,  Aerial,  81 

Proletariat,  108 

Prophetic  Dynamite,  17 

Prophetic  Systems,  9,  10 

Protestants,    10,   86,    103,    13^ 

280 
Proverbs,  Book  of,  274 
Prussia,   115 
Psychical  Research,  20 
Public  Libraries,  254 
Purgatory,  230 

Quakers,  65 

Rainbow,  63,  64,  124 

Raphael,  19 

Rationalism,  137 

Realists,  70 

Reason  and  Faith,  69 

Rebekah,  262 

Red  Sea,  133,  196 

Reign  of  Terror,  108-109 

Reptile  Press,  202-203 

Revival  of  Churches,  137,  141- 

Revolutions,  10,  104 

Rhine,  114 

Rider  Haggard,  164 

Rio  Grande,  114 

River  of  Life,  24,  268,  274 

Robes.  20,  37,  87,  88 

Robespierre,  no 

Rod    for   Measuring,    131-132, 

143 
Rod  of  Iron,  225 
Roman  Amphitheatre,  87 
Roman  Church,  66,  103 
Roman  Empire,  10,  30,  71,  loi, 
104,   108,   122,  147,   149,  156, 
171,  209,  236,  242,  273 
Roman  Mass,  55 


INDEX 


287 


Romans,  102 
Rome,  102,  213 
Rossetti,  19 
Rudyard  Kipling,  163 
Ruskin,  19,  104 

Russia,  loi,  108,  no,  135,  216, 
247,  248,  279 

Sacrifice,  30 

Sacrifice  or  Success,  173 

St.     Agatha's     School,     New 

York,  II 
St.  Helena,  21,  229 
St.  Lawrence,  114 
Saloons  disappear,  141 
Salt-miners,  21,  273 
Salvation  Army,  94 
Samaria,  79,  196,  228,  229 
Samuel,  185 

Sand  as  Symbol,  156,  228 
Sapphira,  262 
Sardis,  18,  48,  53,  56,  57 
Sardius,  64,  71 
Satan,  42,  151,  227 
Satii  -,  29,  70 
Saul,  185 
Savonarola,  94 
Scales,  Pair  of,  79,  238 
Scarlet  Lady,  44 
Schools,  85,  96 
Science,  10,  65,  66,  69,  70,  71, 

72,  ^z,  200 

Scorpion,  108 
Scotland,  259 
Scottish     Rite,      Temple     of, 

Washington,   164 
Scriptures  Distributed,  123 
Sea  and  Land,  124 
Sea  as  Symbol,  156 
Sea  Disappears,  30,  258 
Sea  gives  up  Dead,  230 
Sea  of  fire,  30 
Sea  of  glass,  30,  63 
Seals,  Seven,  77-81,  92 
Second  Coming  of  Christ,  239- 

244,  273-279 
Second  Death,  19,  228,  231,  267 
Secret  Commissions,  173 
Seraphs,  66 
Serbia,  114 
Sermons,  103 
Serpent,  20,  202,  227 


Seven  as  number,  166-167 

Seven  Churches,  47,  133 

Seven  Vials,  195-205 

Shakespeare,  94,  136 

Shipping,  30,  103,  209 

Shrapnel,   144 

Siberia,  259 

Sickle,  Sharp,  32,  186,  187,  189 

Silas,  42 

Silence  in  Heaven,  81,  93,  121 

Sinai,  142,  257 

Sinn  Fein,  259 

Six,  as  number,  167 

Six  hundred  and  sixty-six,  10^ 

167,  168,  197 
Slavery,  96,  114 
Smithfield,  136 
Smyrna,  31,  46,  47,  54 
Socrates,  65 
Sodom,  137,  141,  257 
Solomon,  114 
Somme,  116 
Songs  of  Creation,  197 
Songs  of  Salvation,  87,  197 
Songs  of  Victory,  197 
Son  of  Man,  32 
Soothsayers,  22 
Sorcerers,  265,  275 
Spain,  123,  157 
Spanish  Armada,  171 
Spiritualism,  69,  185 
Spiritual  Israel,  258 
Star  falls  from  heaven,  103 
Stars,  20,  35,  37,  81 
Stars  and  Stripes,  259 
Stars,   Third  of,    Cast   Down, 

104,  149 
Stars,  Twelve,  on  Everywoman, 

147 
Stephen,  133 
Stock  Exchange,  174 
Stop,  Look,  Listen,  20 
Streets  of  Gold,  20,  30,  262-264, 

Suicide,  37,  70 
Sun  clouded,  104 
Sunday  Schools,  21,  45,  71 
Sweatshops  disappear,  141 
Sword,  20,  35 
Synagogue,  46,  71 
Synagogue  of  Satan,  42 
Syria,  24,  134 


288 


INDEX 


Taii,  of  Dragon,  149 
Talent,  Weight  of,  205 
Tartars,  114 
Tekoa,  22 
Telegraph,  10,  179 
Telephone,  179,  258 
Telescope,  65,  103 
Temple,  30,  70,  88,  131, 144,  196, 

251 
Temporal  Power,  135-136 
Ten,  as  number,  165-166 
Theatres,  190 

Thirteen,  Superstition  concern- 
ing, 163-164 
Thirty-three  and   Freemasons, 

164 
Thousand  Years,  227 
Three,  as  Number,  164-165 
Three  Frogs,  202-203 
Throne,  Great  White,  229-231 
Thunder,  95,  125,  144,  204,  220 
Thyatira,  18,  43,  48,  56,  62 
Time  Times  and  a  Half,  151, 

168 
Timothy,  42 
Tobit,  253-254 
Tolstoy,  108 
Torpedoes,  Aerial  and  Aquatic, 

116 
Trade  Union,  46 
Transfiguration,  198 
Tree  of  1,1  fe,  24,  268-269,  2/3, 

274 
Trees,  85 

Trees,  One-third  Burnt,  102 
Trenches,  81 
Trinity,  66,  280 
Trinity  of  Evil,  202 
Trotsky,  no 
Trumpets,  20,  30,  31 
Trumpets,  Seven,  ^^,  93,  94,  95 
Tuileries,  no 
Turks,  102,  114 

Twelve    Apostles,    Names    of, 
^^54 

Twelve,  as  Number,  165 
Twelve  hundred  and  Sixty,  168 
Twelve  times  twelve  thousand, 

86 
Two  Hundred  Million  Soldiers, 

"5 


Tyre,  103,  209,  259 

Uganda,  172 

Unbelieving,  265 

Union  Jack,  259 

United  States,  247,  248,  279 

Universities,  102,  204 

Uzziah  the  King,  61,  62 

Venice,  103,  213 
Verdun,  116 
Vesture  and  Thigh,  221 
Vesuvius,  102,  229,  238 
Vials  of  Wrath,  31 
Vials  (Musical),  ^2 
Vials,  Seven,  T] 
Vienna,  157,  204,  216,  247 
Virgin  Marj^,  20,  147 
Vladivostock,  259 
Voice  of  Christ,  31,  34,  35,  37, 
220 

Wai,i,s  oe  City,  20,  2^2, 

Wall  Street,  174 

Walz,    Winifred    Scott,    Her 

Poem,  13 
War,  21,  78,  80-81,  151 
Washington,  George,  96 
Waterloo,  203 
Water  of  Life,  279 
Waterpot,  Man  with,  261 
Wealth,  Worship  of,  45 
Wesleys,  95 
Wheels    and    Machinery,    236- 

237 
White  Horse  of  Christ,  221 
Whizz-Bangs,  116 
Whoremongers,  265,  275 
Winepress  of  Wrath,  222 
Wireless,  179 
Wizards,  185 
Woes,  107,  123,  143 
Women  in  Congress,  148 
Women  in  Parliament,  148 
Women's  Movement,  10 
Women's  Suffrage,  148 
Word  of  God,  253 
Wormwood,  103 
Wrath  of  God,  195,  222,  229 


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